There and Back Again
by Baron Zed
Summary: Kushina gets pulled back to Nerima just as she's about to die in the aftermath of the Kyuubi attack. Patched up by Cologne, she's anxious to return to Konoha. She discovers that it's been only three weeks since she disappeared in Nerima, while it's been twenty years for her. Ranma is Kushina.
1. Prologue

Ranma and his friends were created by Rumiko Takahashi. Naruto and his friends were created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is fan fiction created for fun.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I've seen other Ranma = Kushina stories, Leaf by Ozzallos comes to mind. None of the ones I've read have progressed very far. I wanted to try my hand at it.

* * *

Magic mushrooms again. Ranma sighed. It wasn't enough he couldn't make any progress in his personal affairs, but his trials were starting to repeat themselves. After the failed wedding things went right back to normal. His relationship with Akane kept going up and down. Ukyo and Shampoo never listened to him. Ryouga had mainly backed off, but Mousse and Kuno were just as annoying as always—and worse: boring.

His mother's house had finally been rebuilt after being destroyed by fiancées looking for a rumored engagement ring. He was hanging out there hoping to avoid his fiancées and rivals while waiting for the mushrooms to grow to the right height to return to his correct age. He currently appeared to be 4 years old and his ki was only a fraction of what it should be—not to mention his physical strength.

He was up in the attic of the new house looking at some old things that had been salvaged from the old house. The box he was currently looking through was his mother's mother's things. He found some old pictures that he enjoyed looking at and her wedding certificate—her maiden name had been Uzumaki. The rest was pretty much junk, in Ranma's opinion, other than six things: an odd thin knife with a ring on the handle, a curved metal plate with a spiral engraved on it, three odd scrolls with the same spiral designs on the outside, and a diary. The diary was blank except for the first page that had instructions for one of her descendents to put a drop of blood on the design below the writing. He grabbed the items and placed them in a ki pocket.

* * *

It was almost time for his birthday party. The whole circus was gathering at the Tendo Dojo, but he did not feel like participating. He was up on the roof of the Tendo home studying his grandma's diary. It was written in invisible ink which became visible when he put a drop of blood on the design on the first page. If it were to be believed she was from another world! One of the scrolls contained a design called a seal that was supposed to be able to take him there if he put some blood on it.

He knew he should not mess with it, especially in his four-year-old state, but it was getting hard to resist. He could already hear the commotion starting below with people calling his name, already starting to fight over him. He put everything into his ki pocket except the odd blade and the scroll with the world-traveling seal which he rolled out. He impulsively cut his finger on the blade. His family in the other world could send him back, right? They were supposed to be good at this seal stuff, according to the diary. He jabbed his bloody finger at the large, complicated seal on the scroll he had rolled out.

Ranma disappeared with a bright flash and a rush of ki.


	2. Chapter 1: Back in the Nick of Time

Kushina struggled to hold the Kyuubi still with her Adamantine Sealing Chains. She was incredibly exhausted. She had given birth less than an hour ago and then had the Kyuubi no Kitsune ripped out of her by that traitorous Uchiha. She knew she was dying. Her husband, Minato, was painting a seal on their infant boy's stomach. She knew that the seal would take Minato's life shortly after it was done. She hated herself for being too weak to resist the traitor. She hated herself for leaving her son an orphan. She even hated Minato just a little for sealing the Fox into their son.

The Shinigami appeared and sealed the Yin half of the chakra beast into her husband. The Fox shrank and slipped from the chains. It turned its attention to her child. Both she and Minato threw themselves in front of the infant. One of the Kyuubi's tails pierced them both. The Yang half was sealed into the baby.

Minato started to apologize to their son, Naruto, and offer encouragement. Kushina couldn't help but interrupt and start babbling her own advice, but she was not really paying attention to herself. Despite the regrets of the moment, especially with regards to her son, she had had a good life since her rebirth and loved more fully and deeply than she could have imagined in her old life.

". . . listen to your motor-mouth mother," Minato said. Kushina felt the Shinigami turn its attention to them reached for Minato. Kushina's tears were now for her husband who would be trapped in the Shinigami's stomach. Oblivion overcame her.

* * *

Various oddly accented, but vaguely familiar voices rattled around Kushina's consciousness.

". . . ki pathways torn to pieces. . ."

". . . ki exhaustion. . ."

". . . birth. . ."

". . . gaping wound. . ."

". . . hang in there, Ranma."

Kushina lapsed into unconsciousness again.

* * *

Kushina struggled in and out of consciousness. For how long she did not know.

Finally, she woke up enough to take stock of her surroundings. She was in a bedroom, she did not recognize—although the style reminded her of the life she had led before her rebirth. It had been twenty years, and probably ten years since she had thought of it with any regularity.

She evaluated herself. She could tell that she still had the remnants of an unfamiliar drug in her system. Her body seemed mostly recovered, although she was sore from inactivity, and there was a twinge just below her ribs where the Kyuubi had pierced her. Her chakra reserves were mostly full, although she was not sure what the effects of having the Kyuubi ripped out of her would have on her reserves and control.

Her anger spiked at the thought of the Uchiha scum that had spit in the face of everything her husband, and she herself, had done for him. His chakra had felt hollow and slightly off, but Kushina had recognized Obito's chakra signature. She was only glad that Minato did not have that skill. He would have been devastated at the betrayal. She did not know how he had survived the rockslide that Kakashi had said had killed him and why he had hidden himself for so long, but he certainly would not survive her once she found him. She would teach him to threaten her son and kill her husband.

She heard footsteps and a strange thumping outside the door and calmed herself. The was opened by a tall brown-haired girl in her late teens or early twenties wearing a yellow dress and white apron. A shrunken, white-haired, elderly woman was balanced on a gnarled staff beside her. They both looked familiar. She couldn't remember their names, but she did remember calling the smaller of the pair "Old Ghoul."

"How are you feeling, Ranma?" asked the younger woman in a quiet voice.

"I'm feeling pretty well, all things considering," she responded, "but I prefer to be called Kushina now."

"Are you yourself?" the young one asked. "You've never used a feminine word for yourself before. Are you having memory problems?" She was referring to the word Kushina had used to indicate "I." In her old life, she had always used a male word, even when female.

"Not really," Kushina responded, "It's just been twenty years, so a little forgetfulness is to be expected. I've been living as a woman exclusively for the last fifteen, so my language is to be expected."

The other two looked at each other. The old one said, "You were gone three weeks, Son-in-Law."

"Huh," she muttered, "so there's a time differential of about one day here to one year there, assuming it's constant. That's convenient for keeping track." She spoke up, "How long have I been unconscious?"

"Ten days," said the young one.

"Oh," she sniffled. "I've missed so much. I hope Jiraiya and Hiruzen have taken good care of him."

"Who are you talking about, Son-in-Law?" asked the Old Ghoul.

"My son. I had just given birth, and then the attack. . ." She trailed off.

The Old Ghoul sighed. "The signs were there. Are you locked in your cursed form? Your idiot of a father splashed you with warm water once you'd mostly healed, but you didn't change."

"By choice," Kushina answered. "There was a responsibility that only I could perform and I chose to accept it. Switching back and forth would have made it impossible and locking the curse only works on the cursed form. I suppose the reason for the lock is gone, but I doubt I'll remove it. I'm used to this body now and I prefer the stability."

"You have a responsibility to Shampoo, Son-in-Law," said the Old Ghoul.

Kushina snorted. "In your dreams, Old Ghoul."

"You're a hundred years too young to tell that to me, Son-in-Law."

Kushina laughed. "I could have given you a run for your money after beating Saffron and I'm much, much more dangerous now."

"Please, don't fight now," the younger one said. "Everyone has been so worried about you, Ranma. Won't you please come down and great them?"

Kushina smiled at the young woman. She remembered liking this girl for the most part. She did not help with her problems when she was younger, but she was a good cook and very nice to talk to. "Okay. It's the least I can do for you guys patching me up. I probably owe everyone an explanation before I leave."

"Leave? But Elder Cologne just rescued you and patched you up." said the young woman.

Kushina bowed to the Amazon Elder. "Thank you for the medical help, Elder. Other than that, I didn't really need rescuing. I was happy where I was."

"You know what you can do to repay me."

Kushina snorted, but otherwise ignored the comment. "I'll give explanations to everyone at once." She paused. "Can you tell me your name, Miss? I remember you and that you're an excellent cook, but it has been twenty years for me and I've always been horrible with names."

The woman blushed and said, "I'm Tendo Kasumi, Ranma."

"Please, call me Kushina, Kasumi. I haven't been called Ranma for so long, it weirds me out."

"Very well, Kushina." The two women smiled at each other.

Kushina pulled an outfit out of a storage seal she had placed on her calf and got dressed.

"That wasn't hidden weapons, Son-in-Law," said the old Amazon.

"You'll find I'm full of surprises, Old Ghoul."

The three women went downstairs. In the living room were Kushina's father, Kasumi's father, Kasumi's sister Akane who was Kushina's fiancée when she was Ranma, and Kasumi's other sister. Akane was holding her pet pig who was really Kushina's old rival Ryouga. The unnamed sister was just getting off the phone.

"Boy!" yelled her father, "Why are you locked in your disgraceful girl form! You need to find a cure immediately!"

Akane's father started wailing about the "schools never being joined."

Kushina looked at Akane. She knew that they hadn't always gotten along, but after twenty years she mostly retained fond memories and feelings about Akane.

"Hey, Akane," she said. "How've you been doing?"

Akane looked equal parts relieved to see her and annoyed. "Ranma, you idiot, what were you doing that almost got you killed? Don't you know how much your mother worried about you?"

Kushina smirked. "It wasn't my intention to get skewered by a gigantic nine-tailed fox, but you know how those things go."

Akane rolled her eyes. "You were probably showing off."

Kushina's eyes went dead as she rubbed her abdomen over where her womb resided. "No. No, I really wasn't."

The conversation died until, the middle Tendo girl said, "I've called the usual suspects. They'll be here within the half hour."

"Good," said Kushina. "I only want to explain what happened once."

Kushina looked at "P-chan" and then said, "I'm going to get a glass of water from the kitchen."

She entered the kitchen and quickly made two Shadow Clones. One of them got a drink and walked back into the Living Room. The other Transformed into a copy of P-chan. The pig clone then snuck into the doorway and did a quick Replacement Technique with Ryouga. The real Kushina grabbed the pig and pinched his mouth closed. She bound the pig with her chakra chains. She quickly went upstairs. She walked into the furo room and pulled an exercise outfit of Minato's out of a storage seal. She laid out the clothes next to the furo and released the pig which squealed at her in rage.

"I'll wait out in the entry while you change and get dressed," Kushina said coldly. "If you haven't done so in five minutes, I'll bring Akane up here and show her."

A couple minutes later, Ryouga exited the furo room glaring at Kushina.

"Ranma, you jerk. . ." he started.

"Ryouga, shut up and listen or I demonstrate your curse to Akane." She waited for a few seconds. Ryouga fumed in silence, so she continued. "Ryouga, what you are doing to Akane is very wrong. Time passes differently in the place where I've been and it's been 20 years for me—the last 15 of which were completely as a woman. If a man had done to me what you do to Akane I would feel completely violated. I know you don't mean it that way and that's the only reason I didn't tell on you when I was Ranma, but it has to stop. You are completely abusing her trust when you sleep with her as P-chan and allow yourself to be cuddled like you do."

"Ranma, it's all your fault I turn into a pig. You don't know what it's like to be completely vulnerable! It's not like I mean to do anything wrong. When it first happened she didn't like me as a person, and it was the first time anyone had shown me any kindness since. . ." He looked embarrassed. "Well, since you led me to and from school."

Kushina sighed. "When I was 12 the second time, I was kidnapped by ninja from a rival village who wanted to use me as a breeder. They caught me while I was indisposed and then drugged me to the point that I could barely move and couldn't use my ki. The only thing I could do was leave a trail of my hair. Luckily a friend followed the trail and rescued me. I have never felt so vulnerable in my life. While I might not know what it's like to be almost eaten, you don't know what it's like to be a girl at the complete mercy of honorless men. Luckily they were going to wait until they got to their village to start."

"Ranma, I would never. . ."

Kushina smirked. "I know Ranma, you're much too shy and repressed. If you actually watched Akane change, you would've passed out from blood loss. Still, it's not right."

She paused. "Ryouga, I'm going back to the place I've been for the last few weeks your time, last two decades my time. If you want to pursue Akane, you have my blessing as long as you confess to being P-chan."

Ryouga started to protest, but Kushina overrode him. "Ryouga, you know she's going to find out. Even if you stop the pet behavior, she'll find out at the worst time possible. I'm amazed that she hasn't found out already, honestly. If you do pursue a relationship with her and she finds out, she may never forgive you. Even if you don't pursue a romantic relationship, if you want to stay friends with her, you need to confess. It's much better to own up to it. If you want, and you do it in the next day or so, I'll help you so that things don't get out of hand. Regardless, I will be paying her middle sister to give her a note explaining things one month from when I leave if you still haven't confessed."

Ryouga started to get angry. "Ranma, you promised!"

"That was before you started abusing Akane's kind nature. Her honor is more important than my promise."

Ryouga shifted to depression. Kushina punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Cheer up, for all her temper, Akane is actually a forgiving person. Look, you were probably my best friend when I was a teenager the first time, as sad as that is, so I'll help you out. I can't guarantee it, but I think things will work out for you. If it doesn't, it would be much worse if she caught you later, for example at the altar on your wedding day."

Ryouga blanched.

"Plus, isn't there that pig farmer?"

Ryouga nodded. "I like Akari, but she's all pig, all the time. Sometimes I just want to escape from pigs. And Akane is so nice to everyone all the time other than you or Kuno." Ryouga smirked.

Kushina smiled. "I can't say that I blame her. No one can be more obnoxious than me when I try."

"Hah! Who says you need to try?"

"That's the spirit. It's safe to back downstairs. My P-chan clone escaped from Akane, but first, can you remind me of everyone's names?"

Ryouga laughed and they ran through the names of Ranma's "friends."

When the two arrived downstairs, Kushina said, "Look who I found wandering around the furo upstairs."

Kushina's clone that had been keeping the others busy dispersed.

"Boy! How were you in two places at once?" her father shouted.

"Ninja trick. I heard something upstairs and went to investigate. Turns out it was Ryouga."

"Boy! Have you been slacking? You should know better than to rely on anything other than your fists."

"You're one to talk, you old hypocrite," Kushina responded.

"Boy!" he started. Kushina threw him out the open sliding door and into the fish pond.

"Ah," Kushina said. "I'd forgotten how satisfying that was."

Just then Kushina's mother ran in threw the front entryway. She enveloped her in a hug.

"Ranma, my son!" she said. "I was so worried for you. I would have stayed, but they convinced me that I needed to rest, too."

"It's alright, mom," Kushina said. Then she quietly said, "I know how you feel."

"Do you need some hot water, my son?" Nodoka asked.

"I'll explain when everyone else gets here."

The group moved to the Dojo propper. Within about ten minutes, Shampoo and Mousse arrived. When Shampoo tried to glomp her, Kushina Replaced herself with Mousse much to the male Amazon's delight and Shampoo's chagrin. Ukyo and Konatsu arrived shortly after that. Lastly the Kuno siblings arrived. Kushina forestalled each arrival with a promise to explain and some creative Replacements. The only time it did not work was when she tried to replace with Cologne. Luckily for Kushina, she had tried that when it was not critical, just to see if she could. She thought she might be able to power through the old Amazon's resistance, but figured it was not worth it.

"Grandfather Happosai hasn't been seen for a few days," said Kasumi. "I think you can get started."

"Just as well," Kushina mumbled. "I don't know if I could stop myself from killing him."

Kushina stood up and started her story.


	3. Chapter 2: Kushina's Tale

As I've told some of you, while it has only been about a month for you, it's been almost twenty years for me. I've been in another world.

I was under the effects of the magic mushrooms for the second time. I was physically four years old, so the usual shenanigans were too much for me. I was passing the time at Mom's house looking through old stuff in the attic. I found some things that Grandma Tsunami had left behind. There were some strange things. Among them was a diary. It was blank other than the first page that said that one of her descendents could make the words appear with a drop of blood. I tried it and it worked. The diary explained that Grandma was from a ninja clan on another world.

The diary itself was fascinating, but the main thing was that it explained that one of the accompanying scrolls could transport you back to her home world if you were of her clan and put blood on it. I thought about it for a while. I was pretty bored at the time as well as frustrated with the mess that my pop had left me with and refused to help me unravel and so I impulsively gave it a try while I was on the roof trying to avoid the circus my birthday party was becoming.

I appeared in a strange town. Before too long I was drenched by something—I don't remember what. My red hair stood out and identified me as being from Grandma's clan: the Uzumaki. A policeman found me and brought me to Senju Mito. She had been an Uzumaki before marrying the then-deceased leader of the town and was the only one in the town if you didn't count her grandkids.

Mito and I got to talking. I showed her the diary and we discovered that it had been some 200 years since Grandma Tsunami had disappeared from their world. Since that time the Ninja Villages had been established, but the Uzumaki hadn't joined any of them. They had simply stayed on their island and the clan had become somewhat integrated into the system by being its own Ninja Village. The town we were in was a Ninja Village called Konohagakure no Sato or Konoha for short. Konoha had been founded by Mito's husband several decades previously with the help of a former friend. Mito's clan-by-marriage were distant relatives of the Uzumaki and she had married to seal an alliance, although she had already been fond of her husband. Just a few years prior to my arrival a group of Ninja Villages had banded together to destroy the Uzumaki village because they were jealous of the strength that the Uzumaki held as a single clan. Mito thought there might be survivors, but none of them had contacted her yet. I asked her about getting back, but she did not know how and much of the clan's records had been lost in the fall of Uzushio, our home village. She thought that we might be able to reconstruct it, but it would take years.

Through the diary and Mito's own records we discovered that Mito was my niece, several times removed. Mito offered to announce that I was her great niece and to adopt me as a granddaughter, although I would take the Uzumaki name so that the clan would not die out. At that point I showed her my curse. She was fascinated by it, and reiterated her offer. She said that since I had already been noticed as a girl, and because my male form was not as obviously an Uzumaki, and because the curse would never let me stay male for long that I should appear to be a girl. I could pass my male form off as a ninja disguise technique known as the Transformation, if I wanted to be male. I thought about it for a week before accepting and taking her suggestion. Before you protest, Mom, Dad, I was a stranger in a new, violent place with only one friend. I thought her support was worth my pride.

Grandma Mito thought that Ranma was not a good name for a girl. She asked me what I wanted to be called. The only name I could think of was Ranko, but I didn't want to be called that again. Grandma Mito suggested Kushina, which had been the name she was going to use for her only daughter who had been stillborn. I reluctantly agreed. I still called myself "Ranma" when I went out as a boy and Mito's biological grandkids called me that all the time, to my pleasure. I got used to my girl body, but I still preferred to be a boy when I could. You'll be happy to know that I was an unrepentant tomboy and proud of it, Akane. I still am for the most part.

My male cousin, Nawaki, died within a year or two of my arrival in one of the closing skirmishes of a large-scale war, which was a blow to my new family. Grandma Mito's husband, brother-in-law, and son had died in war before I arrived. My female cousin, Tsunade, and I grew close. However, Tsunade was already an official ninja and about ten years older than my biological age. She was often busy with missions. At the time I didn't really have any friends outside of the last two Senju.

I was often picked on for my accent marking me as a foreigner, my bright red hair, my small size, and my tomboyish nature. In return I took to beating up bullies and pulling pranks. I was enrolled in the Ninja Academy, where I ended up sleeping through lectures, more often than not. Still, I did well due to the emphasis put on physical activities at the Academy.

Grandma Mito taught me the Uzumaki Clan skills. Neither her son nor her grandchildren had taken to them, preferring the Senju style. The Uzumaki were most famous for the Sealing Arts. The Sealing Arts are very flexible and powerful, but hard to learn. You have to be very skilled to use them on the fly, but even the less skilled can use them to great effect with some preparation. I became very good at them, if I do say so myself, although you'd be pleased, Pop, to know I still prefer to use my fists. Grandma Mito also taught me other ninja skills such as ninjutsu and genjutsu. Ninjutsu is causing external effects through the use of chakra, which is what people in that world call ki. Genjutsu is causing illusions through the use of chakra. Both are very useful in a fight, but Genjutsu aren't really my style, so I don't use them that often. Grandma did also let me have access to the Senju archives as well and I grabbed some cool techniques there including the Shadow Clone Technique that you saw earlier that her brother-in-law Tobirama invented.

When I had been there about three years, Grandma Mito called for Tsunade and I. She knew she wouldn't have much time left as she was quite old. She let us know that when her husband Hashirama's former friend Madara defected from the village, he had used one of the giant tailed beasts to attack Hashirama. The beast, known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, was very powerful. Madara controlled it through a bloodline ability that his family has that he was very proficient in using. Together Hashirama and Mito defeated the Kyuubi and Madara and Mito sealed the Kyuubi inside herself. She said that when she died, the Kyuubi would escape and she didn't want it to devastate the village in revenge. The Kyuubi was a hateful creature. She told us that she wanted one of us to take over as the keeper/jailer of the Kyuubi. She admitted that I would be a better choice in that my chakra was more suited to keeping the beast contained. She also admitted that the activation of the curse would weaken the seal that contained the beast and that it would be best to lock my curse if I took on the responsibility. We had experimented and found a way to lock the curse using seals, but only when the curse was active. While it was inactive it was too well hidden to lock. If I took on the responsibility I would likely be a girl for the rest of my life. At that point, I still preferred being a boy, but didn't mind being a girl. Tsunade might have made an acceptable container for the Kyuubi as a baby, but as she was now, it was very dangerous to attempt. Mito estimated that Tsunade had a 30 percent chance of surviving the sealing undamaged, while my chance was 90 percent. A random baby had a 95 percent chance of surviving, but the Kyuubi was very strong and would likely dominate or drive insane anyone who was not a Senju or Uzumaki. I couldn't put Tsunade or anyone else at risk like that, so I told Grandma Mito I would accept the responsibility. She trained me for the next couple of years in being a jinchuuriki. When I was biologically nine, Grandma Mito locked me as a girl and sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune inside me. She died from the strain of unsealing the beast a week later.

In the non-academic portions of the Academy I was one of the best. The only one who could give me a run for my money was a pretty boy named Minato. He was quiet, effeminate, and friendly where I was loud, tomboyish, and abrasive. The thing we had in common was that we both trained hard. When I found out that he wanted to be Hokage, the leader of our village, I publicly proclaimed that it would be me instead. Uzumaki Kushina doesn't lose any more than Saotome Ranma did. Most of the girls in and around our year had a crush on him. I tried to ignore him, but he won at least every third spar we had. All in all, he was the best rival I've ever had. Sorry, Ryouga. We eventually became good friends. I suspect he had a crush on me, but I thought he was too girly and too flaky because he would never tell off the fangirls who followed him around when he obviously didn't like them.

When I was biologically ten we both graduated from the Academy and became Ninja. My sensei was a taijutsu—what they called martial arts—specialist named Maito Ferou. He was an eccentric, but talented Ninja. My teammates were Hyuuga Hizashi, another taijutsu specialist who specialized in pressure point combat due to a useful bloodline ability, and Uchiha Fugaku, a ninjutsu specialist who had a bloodline which allowed him to predict moves and copy techniques. Both my teammates were skilled, but arrogant—possibly due to being from noble clans with bloodline abilities. We didn't get along super well, although we respected each other and commiserated in shared agony due to our sensei's craziness. Fugaku did introduce me to his fiancée, Uchiha Mikoto, who became my best female friend. I kept in touch with Minato. It wasn't too hard. His sensei, Jiraiya, was an old teammate of Tsunade and an unrepentant pervert, so Jiraiya was always hanging around the Senju compound when she was home and Minato was always trying to keep him out of trouble.

When I was twelve the Chuunin Exams came to Konoha. The Exams were one way to advance to the next ninja rank and were international in nature. Both Minato and I had easily passed one in another village the previous year. In fact, we had faced each other in the finals where I narrowly beat him. The Exams only came to Konoha about once every four years, so it was a big deal. My teammates were both entered with a standin. They had done well and I had partied too much. I awoke the feeling of multiple senbon needles puncturing me. Normally, I would instinctively dodge those, even in my sleep, but they had overwhelmed my defenses by the shear number of them. The needles were drugged with a combination sedative and chakra depressor. Some ninja from Kumo had decided to kidnap me. They knew an unwatched way out of Konoha—maybe through bribery? One of them carried me over his shoulder as they ran. They talked about how they were going to turn me into a breeder so that Kumo could have the Uzumaki longevity and chakra reserves which were known to be superior. The only thing I could manage was to lay a trail by plucking out my hair. The only time I've ever been so terrified was in the pit. If I could have mustered any chakra, I probably would have slipped into the Cat Fist.

About five hours later, right before we were about to slip into the buffer country between our country and Kumo's, Minato caught up. Even though he was facing three jounin, the highest normal rank of ninja in our world, he dispatched them without mercy. I was never so glad to see someone in my life. Minato was very fast and probably the only one who could have caught them other than Ferou-sensei unless I was discovered missing right away.

After that, Minato and I became close. I had realized before that he was not a flake, but the episode really emphasized that he had my back in a way that no one had ever tried before. His girliness stopped mattering to me—not that I was one to talk, being the tomboy that I was. We didn't fall in love or anything. I was just barely entering puberty.

Not long after that, the world erupted into war again. Minato and I quickly became jounin and were assigned as senseis of freshly-graduated ninja who were ranked as genin. I ended up with my sensei's son, Maito Gai, who was a fellow taijutsu specialist and just as eccentric as his father; Haruno Kizashi, a pink-haired generalist with a temper; and Aburame Shiori, who was from a clan that fought using chakra-draining insects.

Minato and I both made names for ourselves during the war. In Konoha, I became known as the Red-Hot Habanero, due to my temper where Kumo was concerned as well as a lingering reputation for how I had dealt with bullies as a child. In Kumo and other places I was known as the Crimson Death. Minato became known as the Yellow Flash due to a teleportation technique of my Uncle Tobirama that I taught him and that he perfected.

Tsunade's fiancée, Dan, died during the war and she withdrew from everyone other than Dan's niece. After the war, she received permission to leave Konoha. The last of Minato's family had died during the war. For the most part we only had each other. We started to date and eventually married in secret when I was 19. Minato had fought mainly on the Iwa front and I had fought on the Kumo front. We were both decidedly unpopular in those countries, respectively. We kept the marriage a secret in order to segregate our enemies. The practice of secret marriages is not uncommon in Konoha. We planned on making it public after the birth of our first child when I would go onto reserve status. And no, Pop, I wasn't going to stop training—I just wanted to be able to care for our children personally.

By that time, the Third Hokage was looking to retire. Minato and I were each one of four candidates to replace him. Minato was chosen. Privately, Hiruzen, the Third, told me that he chose Minato over me due to his superior diplomacy—otherwise it was a toss up. Minato had no trouble talking to Iwa or Kumo, but I practically foamed at the mouth whenever I came in contact with anyone from Kumo.

The next few years were happy ones. Things were relatively peaceful. Minato made an excellent Hokage. I can admit that he was better than I would have been. When I was 23, I became pregnant. Minato and I were very happy. When we found out it was going to be a boy we decided to name him Naruto, after the main character in Minato's favorite book.

Since labor and delivery weakens the seal keeping a tailed best contained, we had the birth in a secret location. Unfortunately, someone leaked the location and one of Minato's old students, Uchiha Obito—someone we had thought long dead, came and slaughtered the guards and nurses claiming to be Uchiha Madara within an hour of the birth. I don't know what had happened to him because, before he supposedly died, he was one of the most loyal boys I knew. He kidnapped Naruto and ran. Minato gave chase. While Minato was rescuing Naruto, the Uchiha traitor came back and released the Kyuubi from me. Minato came back with Naruto as the Kyuubi began to rampage. I could tell I was dying from the Kyuubi being torn from my already weak body. I told Minato that I would seal the Kyuubi back into myself and then die, taking it with me. Minato argued that Konoha would need the Kyuubi's power if the man claiming to be Madara came back—he had not recognized Obito and I didn't tell him. He proposed to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. I protested, but finally gave in. We both loved our village and wanted what was best for it. The seal that Minato planned to use would take his life. He insisted that anything less than calling upon the Shinigami would not adequately seal the fox, especially while Naruto was young. We both also knew that I would most likely not survive either. Minato wrote a quick note to the Third, who would probably retake the office of Hokage, at least temporarily, while I recovered what little strength I had. My abilities would be needed to stop the Kyuubi long enough to seal it.

Minato teleported Naruto and I to a good place to seal the fox. Then he teleported away. A few minutes later he returned with the fox, standing atop his giant toad summon. I used chains forged from my chakra to hold the fox in place while Minato did the sealing. Minato succeeded in sealing away half of the fox into himself when the fox slipped his bonds. He saw what we were trying to do and made to kill Naruto with one of his tails. Minato and I both leaped in front of our baby and were speared with the tail. Minato finished the sealing. The Shinigami took Minato away and I collapsed from blood less and exhaustion. The next thing I knew I was back here.

I'm very thankful to you for reviving me, but I need to go back to my baby. None of you can stop me.


	4. Chapter 3: Confrontations

The dojo was silent for a moment before erupting in noise. The worst offenders were, of course, the Kuno siblings. Tatewaki was yelling about the foul sorcerer tricking the pig-tailed goddess into thinking she had had a baby. Kodachi was yelling at her to release "her darling Ranma."

"Boy! How could you let a man knock you up! Apologize to your fiancée for cheating on her!"

"Son, giving birth is not very manly."

The outburst from her father was expected, but she had hoped that her mother would be more understanding.

"Airen! Shampoo help you forget loss with nice bowl of ramen, okay?"

"Die, Enemy of Women!"

"What about my dowry, Ranchan!"

The outburst from Ukyo was disappointing, but the two Amazons reacted much like she had thought they would. Luckily Cologne and Ryouga were silent and seemed content to wait out the madness, as did Konatsu.

Soun's Demon Head Technique yelled, "The Schools must be joined. Forget this nonsense!" His daughters stayed back. The older two never got involved in fights, and Akane just looked lost.

She punctured Soun's Technique with a chakra-coated fist, which knocked him back. Shampoo tried to glomp her, but Kushina did a Replacement with Mousse. Kuno rushed her as well. She Replaced herself with his sister this time. Her chakra senses told her that her father was sneaking up behind her. She whirled and punched him in the ribs.

The Kuno siblings charged together. She used a Great Breakthrough to push them back and then ensnared them with her Adamantine Sealing Chains while they were in the air. She used her chains to smash them together. She formed two Shadow Clones which grabbed the crazy pair to take them home. She did not owe them anything.

"You cad!" yelled Mousse, "Stealing my technique!"

Kushina blinked. She had not thought of that. "Bah, I made these chains from my ki. It's not Hidden Weapons at all. See?" She sent four chains flying at him.

Mouse flung various blades at her chains to try and deflect them, but she altered her chains' trajectory to dodge them. She blunted the ends of her chains and sent Mousse flying when they impacted him. He slammed into the outer wall of the yard.

Shampoo leaped at her again. Kushina leapt up to meet her and slipped around her guard. She sent a thick chain into the ground to provide leverage as she snagged the purple-haired Amazon and threw her towards the fish pond.

She felt her father again. She dropped to the ground and engaged him in with taijutsu. Even being rusty from her pregnancy and her recovery from the Kyuubi attack, she was easily a match for her father even without pulling any special moves. After 60 seconds she threw him into the pond.

Her chakra senses alerted her to someone small hurtling toward her. She spun and snagged cat-form Shampoo out of the air. She calmly walked over to Cologne and said, "I think this belongs to you."

The whole group stopped and stared at her and then erupted into questions about the Cat Fist. When Grandma Mito had found out about the Cat Fist, she had mercilessly sent her to a Yamanaka psychologist despite Kushina's energetic objections. Old Lady Inoko had more or less cured her—she still did _not_ like the beasts, but she could deal with them—as well as helped her with her other issues like her curse. While she could not consciously form the Cat Fist claws, it had helped her master the Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Overall she was pleased with the little fight. She was well beyond all of them, although she could never tell with Cologne. The fight had showed her most of what she need to get back to peak form. Being without the Kyuubi for the first time in 15 years was weird, but it helped her control. She could actually feel some residue of its chakra, but the pressure from it was much, much less. She remembered stories about Kumo's Gold and Silver brothers who were pseudo-jinchuuriki. Her chakra senses told her she had about as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as she had of her own, whereas before the Kyuubi's chakra had dwarfed her own by about two orders of magnitude. She wondered what would happen if she used it, but decided to deal with that later.

"Quiet!" she yelled. "Yes, I can be around cats now. Dealing with the Cat Fist was part of my ninja training."

When everyone had calmed down for the most part, she said, "Now that that foolishness is over, I'll let everyone say their piece and give a response, but you're going to take turns. If you can't behave rationally. I'll remove you like I did the Kunos. I'll take questions in reverse order of what I see my obligations to you are. Konatsu, you can go first."

"Oh, thank you, Ran. . err, Kushina," said the male kunoichi. "I just wanted to let you know that I really like your outfit."

"Ah, thanks."

"I'm really just here to support Mistress Ukyo."

"Okay. Mousse, do you have anything you want to say for yourself, or do you defer to Cologne or Shampoo?"

"You know what I want, Saotome."

"I have never pursued Shampoo as more than a friend—and rarely even done that."

"Like I'd believe you, you womanizer."

Kushina snorted and then looked to Ryouga. "Ryouga, we've already talked some. Is there anything else you want from me?"

"No, Kushina," he replied quietly.

"Cologne, do you speak for Shampoo?"

"I speak for the Joketsuzoku with regards to Amazon Law. What my great granddaughter wants beyond that, she can speak for herself."

"You know that I have never recognized Amazon Law."

"That is immaterial. The Law is the Law. It has guided us for 3000 years."

"What does Amazon Law say about taking a mother from her child to try and force her to be a man?"

Cologne was silent.

"You know you can't force me to be a man again without my cooperation. You know nothing of the method I've used to lock myself."

Cologne remained silent.

By now, both Shampoo and her father had returned to normal. The Amazon girl spoke up, "Please, Airen. Shampoo cannot go home without Airen. Now that no Cat Fist, we can be together, okay?"

Kushina sighed. "I like you Shampoo, but only as a friend. I'm not willing to sacrifice my son, my happiness, or my life for your prestige or comfort."

"If she goes home without you, she will be locked as a cat," said Cologne.

"Then don't go home," said Kushina. "Why should I sacrifice my home instead of her?"

"Very well," said Cologne. "Since Saotome Ranma has shown herself to be a true woman by giving birth, I declare the Kiss of Marriage void. Since Shampoo has proven herself unable to follow through with the Kiss of Death, I give her to you, Uzumaki Kushina, formerly Saotome Ranma. Do with her as you will. She is no longer Joketsuzoku."

"Kind of harsh, don't you think, Old Ghoul?" said Kushina.

Cologne sighed. "Amazon Law is harsh. It must be for our culture to survive. I did not want this."

"Seems to me that anything this harsh doesn't deserve to survive," Kushina commented.

Cologne shrugged. "I know you'll take care of her."

"Very well. Shampoo, formerly of the Joketsuzoku, I, Namikaze Kushina accept you as a retainer of the combined Namikaze and Uzumaki Clans."

"Yes, Mistress," Shampoo said with her head bowed.

"None of that," Kushina reached over and lifted Shampoo's head. "Retainers in Ninja Clans are more like vassals than servants." She paused. "At least in my clan."

"Ukyo, I can't marry another girl. To be honest, I've only ever wanted you as a friend."

"But my dowry and all the time wasted as a boy. . ."

Kushina sighed. "I'll admit that my father owes you for your dowry. However, it's your father that owes you for forcing you to live as a boy."

Ukyo started spluttering.

"Really, Ukyo? The embarrassment for breaking off an engagement between six year olds has to be pretty minor. Certainly not worth what he did to you."

Kushina pulled a small purse out of a storage seal. She tossed it to Ukyo. "There's enough gold in there to cover the cart and any interest."

"But I want you. . ." Ukyo whispered.

Kushina noticed her father and Nabiki looking at the purse with avarice.

"Ukyo, I went through puberty as a woman. I have no interest in learning to be a man again." She laughed. "Not that I was much of one the first time by any measure that I recognize now. If your father still gives you grief, I can see if my mom can adopt you, or if you're willing you can follow me back to my new home like Shampoo, I can adopt you as a sister."

"Can I think about it?"

Kushina nodded. "Yes, but not for too long. I want to head back soon. If time is still moving the same way, my baby is already 10 or 11. So, try and get back to me by tomorrow morning."

The chef nodded.

"Nabiki, do you have something you want from me, or does your father speak for you?"

"There's the matter of your debt, Saotome," said Nabiki.

Kushina snorted. "Your little scams only work if you actually have leverage. What are you going to do to me?"

"But your honor. . ."

"And what do your made-up debts have to do with my honor?"

Akane and Ukyo actually started to giggle at Nabiki's flummoxed look.

"Now I do appreciate all the work that Kasumi put into feeding me and for your father letting me stay here, but I don't actually trust you not to spend most of it on yourself, so I have a guest gift for Kasumi." She tossed another small purse to Kasumi.

"Oh, err, Kushina, you don't have to. . ." Kasumi said.

"I know, Kasumi, but I want to." She winked. "Besides, the look on Nabiki's face makes it worth it. Now is there anything you want from me, or does your father speak for you?"

"I'm just glad you're okay, Kushina."

"Akane, does your father speak for you?"

Akane had a lost, sad look on her face. "I thought we had something, Ranma."

"We did have something, Akane. But I've felt real love since then and what we had was only skirting the edges of it. What we had could have developed into real love, but it's been a long time for me and I have other responsibilities now. I can't go back to being the boy I was."

"You can be your boy's father!" shouted Genma.

"Wait your turn, Pop!" said Kushina, irritated.

"Remember when I first showed up and you thought I was that red-haired girl? And you offered to be friends? Well, I'm really that red-haired girl now. Want to be friends?"

"Yes." Akane said quietly.

"I don't think I'll be able to visit often, if at all, due to the time difference, but I should be able to set up a way to exchange letters."

"I would like that," the younger girl said.

"Mr. Tendo? Is there something you want from me?"

"Family honor. . . The schools. . ." Soun choked out. He had been crying steadily since the fight. It was obvious that Kushina would not be honoring Ranma's supposed obligations.

"Mr. Tendo, you have no sons to marry me," Kushina said.

"But you could unlock the curse," he said.

"Mr. Tendo, you could go to Jusenkyo and get the same curse and marry Pop."

"If you're going to be stubborn about the curse, you can fulfill the agreement by marrying Soun!" yelled her father.

Kushina unleashed some killing intent at her father. "I said, wait your turn!"

Genma shrank in upon himself.

"To answer the point that my idiot father brought up, and I'm not agreeing to anything, I have a question for you, Mr. Tendo. Would you be willing to leave your family and home behind to go to my new world? Visiting back would be rare."

"Err, I'm not agreeing to anything either," Soun said, "but since we're talking hypothetically, couldn't you bring your son here? It sounds like it's more modern and less dangerous here. And from what you said, isn't he the only one you have left?"

"My son is the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Even if I wanted to bring him here, it's doubtful Konoha would agree. Other villages also have jinchuuriki, plus there is my husband's traitorous student. I hate it, but my son is a military asset and has to stay in Konoha. It was the same with me, once I was a jinchuuriki, being a ninja was non-optional."

"Perhaps another son or a grandson could be sent back? It could work with the time differential."

"I am the head of the Uzumaki clan and regent for the Namikaze clan until my son comes of age. I will not sell off my children or grandchildren to pay a Saotome clan honor debt. I have our own clans to think about."

"Don't you care about your father's honor?" Soun asked.

"He would have to care before I would care," Kushina said. "If he cared, he would not have sold my hand in marriage so many times."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded and Soun started weeping again.

She sighed. "Pop? I'm not going to repeat everything I just told Mr. Tendo."

Genma sighed. "Okay. I want you to take me with you."

Kushina blinked. "What?"

"You're taking the Amazon and maybe the okonomiyaki chef, right? I may not have been the best father, but I like to think I was an excellent, if unorthodox, sensei. The truth is that I've devoted my life to you." He looked down. "And I've missed you," he said softly.

Kushina sighed. "Believe it or not, Pop, but I am fond of you. However, I can't trust you. I can't trust you not to steal my son and I can't trust you not to ruin my reputation. With Ukyo and Shampoo, I can trust them to keep their promises if they give them. I've seen you break too many, for the smallest of advantages. I'll think about it overnight, but don't count on it. If I don't take you, I'll leave you a pen pal device so you can still hear about the exploits of your daughter and grandson, okay?"

Her father looked sad, but nodded.

"Mom?"

Nodoka looked on with her eyes full of tears. "Ranma, you promised on your life and honor to be a man among men."

Kushina sighed. "Mother, I did not. A five-year-old is not capable of making such a promise. Besides, you judged that I had fulfilled the contract."

The older woman said, "Ranma, the contract did not specify an end."

Kushina looked at her, shocked. "You were planning on holding that wretched thing over my head for the rest of my life? Did you want a son or a slave?"

"How could you say that to me?" She looked affronted. "Of course, I wanted a son. I am even prepared to be lenient because of your unique situation, but you are not even trying to live up to your honor obligations. Honor is what separates us from barbarians and animals. Striving to be honorable is the pinnacle of human endeavors."

"Pop, made that obligation, not me. I don't remember the incident, but I can't imagine him telling me what it meant before getting me to put my fingerprints on it."

"Your father was able to make obligations in your name when you were a child."

Kushina's jaw dropped. "Like I told Pop, I'm fond of him, but the man does not have a shred of honor in him."

Nodoka looked embarrassed. "The situation is less than ideal. . ." She shook her head. "I will also be discussing honor with my husband."

Kushina noticed her father slipping away. She let him go.

The younger redhead stared at the older. "You would really rob your grandson of his mother?"

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," the older woman said quietly with tears in her eyes. "The training trip was only supposed to last a year. Then my son would come back the perfect little man and we could all be happy."

Kushina put her hand on her mother's shoulder. "Life is messy, mother. It never goes the way you expect it to. I think I'm actually older than you chronologically now, if you count both my lives, and the one thing I've learned is that happiness comes from mutual sacrifice. Minato and I were genuinely happy because we were both willing to give things up to help the other. You and everyone else here is asking me to sacrifice without offering any real sacrifices of your own in return. I tried without success to make that work when I was a teenager the first time and I won't try again. As for you, do you think you should abandon your tomboy daughter just because she's not your manly son? Too many good things in life can be overlooked just because they aren't perfect."

"Why are you trying so hard to patch things up with me if you're just leaving?" asked her mother.

"I can't see myself taking Pop with me, but if you're willing to have Namikaze Kushina the Konoha Ninja as your daughter, I'll take you."

"Can I think about like, Ukyo?"

"Yes. Let me know tomorrow," said Kushina. She turned to Ryouga. "Ryouga, if you want me to help you with that thing, it will have to be by tomorrow morning. I want to leave tomorrow before noon."

"Okay. I'll let you know tomorrow morning."


	5. Chapter 4: Goodbyes

**Author's Note:** (2015-11-22) Added a few paragraphs near the end of Kushina's talk with Akane.

Kushina had spent several hours yesterday working on the seal that would take her back to Konoha and then spent several sessions imbuing it with chakra. She had needed to rest before making the final additions to the seal. Luckily there were still some residues from the previous trips to help anchor the seal. She had also made several pairs of communication seals that should be strong enough to pierce the dimensional barrier. She had also written a letter for Akane in case Ryouga declined to come clean.

After breakfast Kushina went out into the yard to practice some katas. A subdued Ryouga approached her and said, "I've thought about it and I think it's better if I get your help for this."

"Okay. Let's go find Akane."

"Akane," she said once they found her in the living room, "Ryouga and I have something we need to talk to you about in the dojo."

The three of them walked out and entered the dojo.

"First of all," Kushina said, "we would both like to apologize to you. Ryouga has a significant martial arts weakness and I promised him that I would not tell anyone about it. However, this weakness touches on your honor. I tried to compromise and keep my promise while still revealing it so that you could retain your honor, but it never worked. After having matured quite a bit, I now believe I should have straight out told you as you wouldn't have exploited Ryouga's weakness."

Akane looked confused more than anything.

Kushina took a breath. "We expect you to be mad at both of us, but I'd like you to consider that I don't think Ryouga did it to take advantage of you. I believe he did it mainly to get back at me. That doesn't excuse it, but I believe it mitigates it a little."

Kushina gestured at Ryouga to continue.

"I want you to know that I didn't mean for it to happen at the start," he said. "I allowed it to happen because you were one of the few to ever show me kindness and I was really mad at Ranma, as she said."

He bowed his head and closed his eyes. "I have a Jusenkyo curse. I'm P-chan."

Akane stared at him in disbelief.

Kushina pulled a two water bottle out of a storage seal. She heated one with some fire chakra and handed the other to Akane.

Akane unstoppered the bottle and dumped it on Ryouga. He shrank into the small piglet form of P-chan.

Kushina saw that Akane was about to erupt. The dark-haired girl formed a fist and moved to pound the piglet. Kushina caught the fist.

"I'm not pleased with you either, Ranma," she growled.

"I know and I don't blame you. Believe me, I don't. That's why I forced him to tell you. But I don't think he did it to take advantage of you. He's way too shy—he faints whenever he sees a girl in a bikini."

Akane frowned. Kushina let her hand drop. "I'm going to change him back. Turn around, Akane."

Akane turned around. Kushina poured the hot water on Ryouga and then turned around herself. Rouga quickly got dressed.

"I'm sorry, Akane," he said. "I know I shouldn't have let it go on after that first night."

"Go," she responded darkly. "I don't want to see you."

Ryouga started to trudge off. Kushina looked at Akane pointedly. Akane scowled.

"In a month or so, come back and see if I've forgiven you."

"I need to talk to Ryouga real quick and then I have some things to say to you before I go, so please wait here, Akane."

"Fine," Akane growled.

"Wait a second, Ryouga," she called.

She ran to meet him at the dojo door. She unrolled one of the communication scrolls. "I'd like you to have this. If you write in the top portion, it will appear on my scroll after you put a drop of blood in the middle." She gestured to a large box that covered the top third of the scroll and then a small circle in the center. "Messages from me will appear in the bottom box." She gestured to the large box at the bottom of the unrolled scroll. She re-rolled the scroll and handed it to him. "I don't know if the time difference will change, but odds are you'll receive messages pretty quickly since it's about a day here to a year there—or at least it was. I don't think it stays consistent."

"Thanks, Kushina," Ryouga responded with a bow. "I'll keep in touch."

Kushina marked on the scrolls counterpart to show that she had given it to Ryouga.

She hurried back to Akane. "Thanks for waiting. I don't think I'll see him again before I leave."

Akane frowned at her.

"Akane, all that happened twenty years ago for me and I fixed it as soon as I could. Can you forgive me?"

Akane sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't end our renewed friendship in less than 24 hours. Okay, Kushina, I forgive you."

Kushina smiled. "I have a communication scroll I'd like you to have so that we can keep in touch." She repeated the explanation.

"Akane," Kushina said hesitantly, "about Ryouga. He's not a bad kid. He's just lonely—much like I was. He deals with it by obsessing about things and wandering. I dealt with it by being insulting and showing off."

"I know. We actually hit it off, once I stopped being mad about the impromptu hair cut. Although, I wonder how much of that is due to him knowing the things I only told P-chan."

"Did you know he's had a massive crush on you?" asked the redhead giggling. "Although it's subsided somewhat once he got to know Akari."

Akane rolled her eyes. "Yes. I don't like him that way, but I let it go because it feels nice to be appreciated by a gentleman as opposed to an oaf like Kuno or a jerk like you. And don't get me started on the Horde."

"I know what you mean. Even after I was married, it felt good to turn heads even though I would never follow up on it."

Akane giggled. "You were such a shameless flirt, even back when you were a boy in a girl's body."

"Grandma Mito put a stop to that after the first time she saw me do it for ice cream. That woman was intimidating."

Akane stuck out her tongue. "Must've been to puncture the great Saotome Ranma's ego."

"You have no idea. Still, she took good care of me. I still miss her 15 years later." She paused. "You should give at least friendship a try with Ryouga."

"I will. I've pretty much decided to do so already. I'll just make him sweat for a bit."

"Of course," the redhead responded. "You wouldn't want him to not appreciate you."

Akane giggled. "You really are a girl now."

Kushina stuck out her tongue. "I told him I'd put in a good word for him, romance wise."

"I don't know. I've had the engagement hanging over me for so long. I thought I'd be glad if it got cancelled, but now that it's gone, I find I miss it."

"I'm sorry, Akane. It just can't happen now."

"I know, it's just. . ." Akane paused to gather herself. She looked at the ground. "You're taking Shampoo and maybe Ukyo with you. Why didn't you ask me? Aren't we closer than you are with those two?"

Kushina reached out and lifted Akane's chin. "It's not that they're closer to me than you, it's that they don't have anyone else. I would like it if you came with me, because I think we could be great friends, but I don't feel right about taking you from your sisters, your father, and even your school friends. If you came with me, it's likely you would never see them again. Plus, if you came, you would need to get used to the new me and I would need to get reacquainted with you. It seems awfully risky to me on your part, especially since I can't give you anything more than friendship."

"Oh."

Kushina wrapped her arm around the other girl's shoulders and gave her a one-armed hug. "Cheer up. You're only 16. You have plenty of time to figure things out. Our fathers were insane for trying to force this on us at that age."

"I know."

"Let's go back inside. I need to crush Pop's hopes and give him his scroll."

* * *

Kushina's father took the news resignedly. He had expected it.

About an hour later Shampoo and Cologne arrived. Cologne declined a scroll.

"I would like one, but Amazon Law says that the break has to be complete and final. I will be heading back to the Joketsuzoku and it would be better not to have it."

Kushina offered that scroll to Kasumi who gladly took it.

Ukyo arrived with Konatsu and asked, "I don't know about being a ninja—but the real question is what kind of okonomiyaki do they have there?"

"There is a decided lack of okonomiyaki. There's a good little ramen shop, but no okonomiyaki."

"What, you've not had okonomiyaki for 20 years? We can't have that!" she exclaimed. With that she pulled out her portable grill and started cooking. As she cooked she said, "I don't really have anything here. My father has pretty much ignored me since you and Genma left me at the side of the road. If you think I could fit in without being a ninja, I'd be honored to be your sister."

Kushina quickly agreed. Surprisingly, Konatsu requested to come along.

"I have no one other than Mistress Ukyo and your world sounds perfect for a Kunoichi like me."

Kushina agreed and offered to make him an Uzumaki clan retainer which he accepted.

"There are much more eccentric people in Konoha, including one of my students," she said. "You'll fit right in."

Lastly, Nodoka arrived. "I've decided to come with you. I have long thought that my life wasn't worth living without my child. I had always planned to follow you and your father into death if it was necessary. I've thought about it and concluded that you've led an honorable life, even if it wasn't the one I've envisioned for you."

"Glad to have you, Mom."

Nodoka proceeded to hand the Saotome honor sword to Genma. "It's best if I give this back to you since I wasn't able to uphold the Saotome honor."

Genma looked sad and relieved at the same time as he silently took the blade.

Kushina decided it was best to get on with it as everything that needed to be accomplished had been and she did not want to miss any more of her son's life. She hugged Akane, Kasumi, and even her father goodbye. Everyone else said good bye to each other. Kushina's parents' goodbye was especially awkward due to the return of the sword and because they had never figured out how to deal with each other after they had met again.

She helped her mother up onto the roof, as that was the best place to activate the seal due to it being the previous location she had activated the transportation between worlds. The other three hopped up beside her. She unrolled the scroll she had prepared and asked everyone to hold hands, forming a chain. As the head of the chain she touched the scroll and channeled chakra into it.

They disappeared in a flash of light and chakra.


	6. Chapter 5: Konoha

**Author's Note:** A few paragraphs were added to the middle of the previous chapter about a day after it was posted.

* * *

They appeared in a small forest clearing. Kushina thought it might be the place where Minato had sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto, but she was not sure. She concentrated and felt for her Hiraishin markers. She had never used the technique as much as Minato and she was not nearly as good at it as he was, preferring to use her fists, but she had a few markers: the Hokage's Office, their home, the Senju compound, and Ichiraku's Ramen.

Flashing into the Hokage's office would be a bad idea. She couldn't feel the one for the house that she had shared with Minato, so she decided that the Senju compound would be the best place to go. When she had married Minato, she had used stasis seals on the compound to preserve it since Tsunade wasn't using it. Unless Tsunade had gotten a lot better with seals, it should still be sealed up. Kushina's chakra inside the compound should automatically deactivate the seals. She wondered if Tsunade was still hiding from life.

"I have a teleportation technique that can take us to the compound where I grew up," Kushina said.

"Wow, that's pretty cool, Ranchan," said Ukyo. "Can you teach us?"

"I'm not sure," she replied. "The ninja here focus their ki a different way than the martial artists in our old world did. They even call it chakra instead of ki. I was somewhat lucky that due to the magic mushrooms I was young enough physically that retraining my ki wasn't that big a deal. It's more or less a family technique, but since I'm adopting you, and Shampoo and Konatsu are retainers, it won't be a problem. I will warn you that it's very difficult to learn. My husband tried to teach his guards who were very skilled ninja how to do it, but they could only manage it with all three of them working together. It works through the use of marker seals. Minato used to put them on kunais, which are the favored throwing knife among ninjas here, and then flash between them very quickly. I never practiced it enough to get that good at it because it wasn't my style, but I do have a few markers in Konoha and I can use one of them to get us there with little fuss."

She ran through a mental checklist of what they needed to get straight. The only major thing was names. "Before we go, I thought we should get our names straight. If you want to keep calling me Ranma, I won't get upset, but most people here will know me as Uzumaki Kushina. If you ask for Ranma, very few will know who you are talking about. I'm going to publicly be taking my husband's name, so I'll be Namikaze Kushina. Since I'm adopting you as my sister, Ukyo, you'll be Uzumaki Ukyo."

Ukyo nodded.

"Mom, you have a choice. You can keep Saotome, go back to your maiden name, Tanaka, or use Uzumaki since that would be the clan you would belong to if you had been born here. With your red hair, you would fit in as an Uzumaki, even if it's a little darker than most Uzumaki had."

"What do you think would be best, Ranma?" she asked.

"I don't want to pressure you, but the easiest choice would be Uzumaki, since I'll be introducing you as my mother and everyone knows me as an Uzumaki."

"I would be honored to be known by my mother's name," she said.

"What's your family name?" Kushina asked Konatsu.

"Kenzan," he responded.

She nodded. "You can keep that."

"Shampoo, do you have a family name?"

"No, Joketsuzoku not use."

"That's okay. Many ninja not from clans do not use a family name.

"Okay, everyone grab hands again." She grabbed her mother's hand and Ukyo's hand. Konatsu grabbed Ukyo's free hand and Shampoo grabbed Nodoka's free hand. She reached for the marker seal that she had already identified as being at the Senju compound.

They flashed away.

The Senju compound was much as Kushina remembered it, even though she had not seen it for about four years plus however much time had passed while she had been in Nerima.

She formed a Shadow Clone. "Unfortunately, I need to go check in with the Hokage. It would be best if I did this alone. My Shadow Clone will help you get settled in."

"Are you sure, Daughter?" asked her mother.

Kushina smiled at being called "Daughter" and said, "Yes. I think everything will go well, but I have no idea how long it's been or even who is in charge. I'd rather handle the initial contact alone." She hoped it wasn't Danzou.

Shampoo objected, "Mistress, if danger, Shampoo should be by Mistress's side."

Kushina waved her hand in dismissal. "If I'm in any danger, I can flash back here. And I told you not to call me 'Mistress.'"

"Shampoo remembers that Ranma not know danger. Shampoo wonder if Kushina knows if she is in danger?"

Ukyo laughed.

Kushina fake pouted at the teasing and then laughed. "I'll be fine."

She left the others to her clone and walked out the front door of the compound, shutting it behind her. As she walked through the village toward the Hokage tower, she saw people giving her second looks. She heard a few people whisper "Habanero." She smiled that people remembered her, that meant that not too much time had passed. As she walked, she noticed that there was considerable damage in some portions of the village, like a running ninja battle had happened recently. The only ninja she saw were genin teams working on cleanup without their senseis. She recognized some of them by their clans, but not any individual ninjas. The fact that there had been a battle inside Konoha disturbed her.

When she arrived at the Hokage Tower, there were two chuunin standing guard. One of them was a Branch Hyuuga and the other was an Inuzuka—both were male. She didn't recognize either of them.

"Namikaze Kushina, reporting in after a long convalescence. I'd like to see the Hokage."

"Namikaze? What are you trying to pull?" said the Inuzuka, visibly losing his temper.

"You look like descriptions I've heard of Uzumaki Kushina," said the Hyuuga.

"Yes, that was my maiden name."

"You expect us to believe you were married to the Fourth?" asked the Inuzuka incredulously.

"Yes, we were about to announce that we had married, but the Kyuubi attack happened. I was rescued and healed by an old friend, but haven't been able to return until now."

The Inuzuka just snorted. The Hyuuga looked on impassively.

"Look, regardless of whether you believe me or not on that, I am a jounin and outrank you. Are you going to let me see the Hokage?"

"The Hokage is dead," said the Hyuuga.

"Oh," Kushina said sadly. "Who was it? And when?"

"The Third retook the office after the Fourth died in the Kyuubi attack," said the Hyuuga. "The Third was killed by Orochimaru during the invasion a few days ago."

Kushina bowed her head in respect. "Who's in charge in the meantime?"

"The Council Members Mitokada Homura and Utatane Koharu are running things until a new Hokage is chosen," said the Hyuuga.

"I need to speak to them."

"Very well," said the Hyuuga. "Stand guard, Akio, while I take her to see the Councilors."

"Just like that?" asked the Inuzuka.

"If she is Uzumaki Kushina, she _is_ a jounin and was a strong one. She would be very useful as long as her story checks out."

"Fine."

Kushina followed the Hyuuga chuunin into the tower and toward the Hokage's Office.

"Uzumaki Kushina to see the Councilors," the Hyuuga announced.

The two Councilors were seated at a folding table piled with documents that they were looking through. The Hokage's desk was conspicuously empty. They looked up in alarm.

"Kushina?" asked Koharu startled.

"My name is Namikaze Kushina."

The Councilors were some of the few that knew she and Minato had married. Minato had kept the Third's two teammates and Shimura Danzou, the Third's old rival, as Councilors for continuity's sake, although he had been considering replacing them, especially Danzou. She wondered where the old war hawk was.

"Yes, I suppose it is—assuming you _are_ Kushina," said Koharu.

"Please excuse us Chuunin Hyuuga," she said.

"Do you have any proof?" Homura asked once the three of them were alone.

"I'm sure you have my DNA on file," said Kushina, "but how does this do as provisional proof?" She flashed around the room several times—although much slower than Minato would have.

"I didn't see a kunai," muttered Homura.

"Both Minato and I had Hiraishin markers hidden in the office. Mine is still here," she said.

"Not exactly appropriate," Homura said, "but I can't say that I blame Minato for doing it."

"Where have you been, Kushina?" asked Koharu. "Everyone thought you died. You don't look like you've aged a day."

"It's been 11 days for me," she replied. "How long has it been for you?"

"Thirteen years," answered Homura. "How can it be so little time for you?"

Kushina explained about being born in a different world and finding her Grandmother Uzumaki Tsunami's diary, being transported to Konoha as a four year old, and being adopted by Mito because she was an Uzumaki. She told them about Obito causing the Kyuubi to escape.

"Obito?" asked Homura incredulously. "I never would have figured he would have the skill or the disposition to do that."

She told them that her family and friends had succeeded in summoning her back to her birth world just as she was about to die and patched her up. She talked about the time differential. She mentioned that she had brought her mother and three friends back with her and that she had adopted one of her friends as a sister and that the other two were Uzumaki clan retainers and that they were currently at the Senju compound with a Shadow Clone.

"Okay," said Kushina, "I've done my duty. What I really want is to see my son. Where's Naruto? He's alright, isn't he?"

"Yes, he's alright," said Koharu a little to quickly.

Kushina narrowed her eyes.

"He's on a mission with Jiraiya to collect our next Hokage," the older woman continued.

"Oh," Kushina said interestedly. "Who is it?"

Koharu and Homura exchanged glances and after a moment's pause Koharu said, "Tsunade."

"Really?" asked Kushina. "Unless she has changed a bunch in the last decade, I wouldn't think she would be interested."

"We don't expect her to be," said Homura, "but there's really no other choice. Jiraiya says that he's unsuited and we can't disagree with him. If Tsunade doesn't agree, we'd have no choice but to appoint Danzou."

"If I remember right," drawled Kushina, "you too took Danzou's side against Hiruzen and Minato fairly often."

"That's true enough," said Homura, "but Danzou is best as a counterpoint to someone more virtuous. Danzou unchecked would be. . . less than ideal."

Kushina snorted. "That's a charitable way to put it."

The two Councilors exchanged another long glance. "How are your skills?" asked Koharu.

"I'm about 90 percent recovered from the attack. I'm a little rusty from taking it easy during my pregnancy, but I can get up to speed within a month easily. Even before I was a jinchuuriki, I always recovered very quickly."

Homura said, "We think that if Tsunade declines, that you would be the logical Hokage candidate. The main objection to you being named the Fourth, you hatred of Kumo, seemed to have dissipated in the years that your husband was Hokage. You may even be even preferable to Tsunade. If she returns, we will convene a small group of jounin to interview you and select between you. If she doesn't return, we will ask the Daimyo to select you."

Kushina's heart beat a little quicker. Even though she had mainly desired to be Hokage due to her rivalry with Minato, it was still something she had worked toward and Uzumaki Kushina did not lose.

"I would be happy to serve my village as Hokage," she replied solemnly.

The three of them lapsed into silence. Kushina was about to ask about Naruto some more, when a young blonde girl burst into the room. Kushina thought she was a Yamanaka.

The girl was almost hyperventilating she was so worked up. "Sasuke found out that Itachi had been in the village and put Kakashi into a coma. He found out that he was after Naruto and ran after him. Gai is chasing after Sasuke!"

"Why would Itachi attack Kakashi and why is he after Naruto?" demanded Kushina.

The Yamanka looked at her like she was stupid.

Koharu spoke up. "Itachi slaughtered his clan about five years ago and became a missing nin. I don't know why he's after Naruto."

Kushina felt her temper rise. She forced it down and summoned eleven Shadow Clones. She summoned all ten of the Hiraishin kunais she had from the storage seal on her forearm. She passed them to her clones. "I'm going after them. My Shadow Clone can answer any other questions you might have." She and the ten clones with kunais sped off. She barely noticed the gates as she ran.


	7. Chapter 6: Naruto

**Author's Note:** (2015-12-02): Updated Kushina's examination of Sasuke to include that she noticed the Curse Seal.

* * *

Kushina doubted if she could catch Gai without having a good trail to follow. She stretched out her senses, but could not find his chakra.

When she had been running for five hours, she felt a pull on one of her kunai and memories from a Shadow Clone that one of her clones had created and quickly dispersed. One of them had found Gai!

She flashed to the kunai and grabbed it. She stretched out her senses. She had found him. She created a Shadow Clone which dispelled itself so that her other clones would know to flash to her location for backup. All eleven of the Kushinas ran toward Gai's location.

She caught a glimpse of a green jumpsuit as it entered a hotel. She signed for her clones to remain outside. She ran into the building and ignored the host. She ran up the stairs and followed the chakra signature. As she caught up to him she saw him do his signature jump kick as he yelled, "Dynamic Entry!" Gai's foot crashed into Jiraiya's head.

A blond kid was yelling at Gai for attacking "Ero-sennin." She absently noted that a dark-haired boy was lying in the hallway, but her attention was focused on the blond. He looked quite a bit like she had as Ranma, but had Minato's coloring. This had to be her baby! She took a second to calm herself—she didn't want to spook him.

"What happened here?" she asked.

The men and boy turned to look at her.

"Kushina-sensei?" shouted Gai.

"You taught Bushiest Brows?" asked Naruto.

Jiraiya looked like he was trying to sneak away.

"If you run, Old Perv, you'll get it three times as bad," she warned. "I have Shadow Clones surrounding the building."

Jiraiya shrank into himself. As she looked around she noticed a woman passed out nearby.

"Did you bring one of _those_ women into Naruto's room?" she asked. She lost control of her temper and could feel her hair start to writhe.

Gai and Naruto started to back away and Jiraiya started to crab walk backwards.

"Not exactly," Jiraiya squeaked. "I mean I did, but not for _that._ What kind of man do you think I am?" He started to regain his composure. "I noticed something was off with her, being the gallant man that I am, I went to investigate. When I noticed that it was a genjutsu, I hurried back."

"Hah," yelled Naruto. "He means that he was completely fooled by the distraction."

"Kid," the old man hissed, "you're going to get me killed if you don't be quiet."

"Oh, but I insist," Kushina said winsomely. "Why don't _you_ tell me what happened, Naruto."

"Hey," Jiraiya said frantically, "how do we know you're not an Impure World Resurrection?" He blinked then looked at her and thought about what he had said. "You don't look any older than you did thirteen years ago."

Kushina frowned. "Who would use that abomination? According to Grandma Mito, she almost killed Uncle Tobirama when he invented it. She burned the Senju copy of the Technique and tried to get Hiruzen to excise it from the Forbidden Scroll for years. As for my age, I'll explain. I came here to talk to Naruto anyway."

"You did?" asked Naruto. "Why? Who are you? Is the Second really your uncle?"

"Old Perv," she said, "make a Shadow Clone and take that woman back to where you found her. Can we talk in your room?"

Jiraiya sighed and did as she asked. "This way," he said.

Gai said, "Kushina-sensei, I would like very much to talk to you and how you Youthfully survived the Kyuubi attack, but young Sasuke ran away from the village to help Naruto. Someone should take him back so that he receives medical care and so that they don't worry."

Kushina looked at the comatose boy that Gai had picked up. He did look like an Uchiha. She thought he must be Mikoto's boy. "I have a Shadow Clone still in Konoha. I can dispel one so that my clone knows to let the Councilors know. What happened to the boy?"

"Wait! Shadow Clones can communicate with each other?" asked Naruto.

Kushina formed one and it dispelled. "Not exactly, but when a Shadow Clone dispels, the creator gets its memories and so do any other Shadow Clones that are active." Her Konoha-clone sent memories saying it had let the Councilors know. She turned to Gai. "You can stay. Tsunade taught me some medical techniques. I might be able to help."

She ignored Gai's shouts about "Youth" as she formed the Mystic Palm Technique and examined Sasuke. He was physically fine except for a broken wrist and some foreign compounds in his neck. She summoned a splint from her calf storage seal and used it on the wrist as she used the Mystic Palm to speed the healing. She continued her examination and noticed that his brain activity was way too high, but nothing she could think of would calm it down.

"Physically, he'll be fine, but his brain is going haywire, like he's having a nightmare he can't wake out of." She carried the boy into the room Jiraiya indicated and laid him on the bed.

"Itachi, Unyouthfully did the same to Kakashi," Gai said. "None of the Konoha doctors could do anything for him. Kurenai thought it was a genjutsu, but it's like none that she knows of."

"Tsunade could probably help him," Kushina said. "I know she has experience with mental trauma."

"Hey, that's who we're looking for," Naruto said animatedly.

She reexamined Sasuke's neck and saw three tomoe marks surrounded by an Evil Sealing array. She absently removed the Evil Sealing Technique and put some chakra into the marks and watched them expand into a seal. The seal was actually multiple seals connected to each other somewhat haphazardly. There was a storage seal which seemed to be the source of the compounds, a pain seal, a loyalty seal, a modified chakra storage seal, which if she was reading it right, also contained a piece of someone's soul, and a self-destruct seal. There were also two activation seals: one for the pain, and the other for the storage seals. Of the residue found near the seal, one was a fairly simple narcotic compound to make the use of it addictive and deaden pain. The other compound had traces of sage chakra attached to it. She let the seal collapse back onto itself and put a Stasis Seal over it to prevent it from activating again.

"Hey, Old Perv, how'd he get this nasty seal?" she asked.

"Orochimaru gave it to him about a month ago," Jiraiya answered.

"As part of the fiasco that led to the Third's death?" she asked.

"Yes, as part of the prelude to that. Naruto was there when it happened."

She looked at her son.

"Well, I was there, but unconscious," he responded. "Sakura-chan said that the Snake Creep bit him to give him the curse seal."

"It's a nasty bit of work, but I think I can get rid of it with Tsunade's help."

"Awesome!" Naruto said. He turned to Jiraiya. "Hey, Ero-sennin, how come you never told me about Shadow Clones sharing memories?"

"If you weren't observant enough to notice, you weren't ready for that aspect of it."

Kushina frowned. "What kind of godfather are you, Old Perv? How can he not know that? Haven't you taught him anything?"

"Godfather?" Naruto shouted.

Kushina paled and then her hair started to writhe again. "He didn't know? Who exactly has been taking care of my son while I was gone!?" she shouted.

"Mom?" whispered Naruto.

Kushina collected herself and knelt in front of Naruto and grabbed his hands.

"Why did you leave me?" he continued quietly. "Was it because of the Kyuubi?"

"Of course not," she said. "Naruto, look at me," she commanded. "Nothing as trivial as a giant fox made out of malevolent chakra could keep me from you for long. The only reason it took me this long to get back to you is that is that time runs differently in the place where I was. To me, it has only been 11 days since you were born."

He sprang into her arms and she hugged him fiercely. "I love you, Namikaze Naruto," she said.

"Namikaze? They told me my name was Uzumaki." He looked confused.

"That's my maiden name," Kushina responded.

Jiraiya coughed. "The Third thought that it would be best to hide his identity in order to prevent assassination attempts. Since he doesn't look too much like an Uzumaki, Sensei thought people wouldn't connect him to you."

"What are you talking about?" asked Kushina. "He looks like a male version of me!"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Maybe, but your hair stands out so much that that's all that most people notice. One the other hand, he has the same hair as Minato, which is pretty distinctive, although not as much as yours."

Naruto said, "So my father's name is Namikaze Minato? Isn't that the Fourth Hokage's name?"

"That's right," Kushina said.

"Why did he seal the fox into me?" asked Naruto. "Didn't he know people would hate me for it?"

Guilt crashed into Kushina. She knew that jinchuuriki were not treated well in other places and counted herself lucky that very few knew that she had been one.

"We. . . I'm so sorry, Naruto." Her eyes began to water a little. "We only really had two choices: to seal the fox back into me and let me drag it into death or to seal it into you."

"Back into you?" the boy asked. "You held the fox before me? And you were the Hokage's wife? People didn't hate you?"

She nodded. "I was the second container of the Kyuubi. The first container of the fox was Grandma Mito, the First Hokage's wife. As for hating us, very few people knew about it. It was an S-class secret."

"Someone leaked the secret when you were only a few days old, kid," Jiraiya explained. "I've always suspected Danzou had a hand in that as part of a ploy to drive you to him, but there was no evidence. Sensei announced that the Fourth wanted you to be known as a hero for keeping the Kyuubi at bay, but by then hysteria had gripped the village and many people ignored the wish." He turned to Kushina. "The Third signed a law prohibiting discussion of Naruto's status, but I don't know that it helped much."

Naruto snorted. "It didn't. Parents just told their kids I was bad news without explaining why."

Kushina collapsed to her knees. "I should have insisted," she said quietly, "and then Minato would have lived and you could have had a happy life. It was only luck that I survived, anyway."

"What happened?" asked Jiraiya.

Kushina explained about Obito's interference and the decision to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto, so that Konoha would have a weapon in case he came back. "We trusted you to use the beast's power to help save Konoha. We never imagined that Konoha would treat you so poorly."

"Well, it wasn't that bad," said Naruto. "Mostly people just ignored me or gave me dirty looks. I didn't have many friends growing up, but I do now!"

Kushina could tell he was just trying to make her feel better, but she was glad that things were improving. "Hey, I brought my mother back with me, as well as my adopted sister and two other friends. They're waiting for us in Konoha."

"Really? I get a grandmother and an aunt too?" His face was alight with a large smile. "This is the best day ever!"

"Are you sure it was Obito?" asked Gai, quietly for once. "Kakashi will be devastated that he could do such a thing. We all thought he was dead and Kakashi spends much of his time mourning him, as well as Rin and his Sensei."

"Yes, he was wearing a mask and there was something weird about him, but I definitely recognized his chakra."

The conversation lulled and Kushina turned her attention back to Jiraiya.

The old pervert sensed the scrutiny and said, "I checked up on him when I could, Kushina. Honest. But I had to run my spy network and I didn't think the kinds of places I need to go to would be appropriate for a young kid. I had planned to take him as my apprentice now that he's old enough."

"Okay, I'll let it slide, Old Perv. To be honest, you weren't my first choice as a foster parent, but Minato insisted."

"Hey! I'd be a wond. . ." The old man started to protest before a look from Kushina silenced him.

"I'd expect Mikoto to look after him. Why didn't she? Or even you, Gai. Why didn't you?"

"I wanted to help Naruto's Youth explode," Gai said, "but the Third forbade any of those with connections to you or the Fourth from contacting your son until he became a genin in order to minimize the chances of Iwa or Kumo discovering his heritage. A few of us left anonymous presents for him, though. Naruto proudly wears the Most Youthful jumpsuit I left for him."

Kushina looked doubtfully at the orange monstrosity that Naruto was wearing. It's only saving grace was that it was not as tight as the jumpsuits that Gai favored.

Jiraiya said, "Minato wrote in the note that he left for Sensei about his suspicions that the man who freed the Kyuubi was an Uchiha. Because of that, Sensei specifically forbade Mikoto or Fugaku from having anything to do with Naruto, even though Mikoto was named as his godmother."

Kushina sighed with frustration. "I can't say that the Old Man was wrong with his choices, knowing what he did, but I wish things could have worked out better for you."

She turned to Jiraiya. "I'll be coming with you. I'd like to talk to Tsunade anyway. We should take Sasuke with us. Since there's a good chance that she won't be returning with us, at least Sasuke will get help then." She looked at Gai. "You can come with us or return if you need to."

"I will at least spend the night," said Gai.

"Okay, I think we should check into a different hotel. I'll share a room with my son and godson. Gai can share with you, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya looked unhappy with the arrangement, but stayed silent.

Naruto yelled," Godson?"

Kushina nodded. "The Mikoto I mentioned, that was my best friend? That was Sasuke's mom."

"So Sasuke's mom was my godmother?"

"Yes, although it sounds like the Third didn't let her act as one."

They quickly left and found a different hotel. To avoid suspicion, Kushina kept Sasuke hidden and sent in a clone with a Hiraishin kunai which she flashed to. Kushina and Naruto spent several hours talking about Naruto's life as well as some stories from Kushina's life although she held off on telling him about the curse for the moment.

Kushina was surprised to hear that his other teammate was a Haruno.

"She has pink hair? It's likely that her father was Haruno Kizashi, one of my students. He was already an experienced genin when he was transferred to me to fill a hole left by not having enough graduating Academy students. He was a decent ninja, but I would be surprised if he made it past chuunin."

"Sakura has never told me much about her parents, so I don't know if he's her father or an uncle. It would kind of have to be a relative with the name and hair."

They continued talking until Naruto started to nod off.


	8. Chapter 7: Rasengan

The next morning Kushina offered to spar with Gai.

"Yosh! I will stoke my Youthful fires and prove my Youth to you, Sensei!" he boomed.

Kushina rolled her eyes, having long been exposed to his antics and those of his father before him. Naruto and Jiraiya watched.

As was her custom when she sparred with Gai, she kept to taijutsu, only using her chains occasionally to brace herself or alter her trajectory while in the air. Gai's style was surprisingly similar to Ryouga's except that the Green Beast was fast—but not as fast as she was, of course. Kushina flitted around Gai, trying to keep him off guard. By now, Gai knew a lot of her tricks, but she was nothing if not adaptable. Gai was stronger and faster than the last time she had fought him, but his flexibility and upper body quickness were not much better than before. She was able to nail him fairly consistently using feints. If he ignored the feints she had enough speed and agility to adapt and make him pay. Gai's toughness made it so that unless she was willing to wrap her hands in wind chakra, he was able to take it. Even though Gai rarely forced himself past her guard, he was good enough that she could not rely only on dodging. She had to use some serious chakra reinforcement to be able to block his punishing blows, but she had chakra to spare.

After an hour, Kushina was starting to feel it. She had long been keeping her body moving using chakra. Many months of lower activity levels had sapped her stamina. She was going to pay for this match tomorrow. If she knew Gai, he was also a stamina monster, but it appeared he was not used to maintaining this level of activity for this long. They had been trading offers to let the other give up for twenty minutes now.

She slipped into his guard one last time and managed to grab his arm and throw him out of their sparring area. Gai landed on his back and lay their for five seconds before hopping up.

"Sensei!" he boomed. "I'm glad to see that the Fires of your Youth have not left you!"

"You've gotten much better, Gai," she responded. "I think you could have beaten me if you'd used your Gates."

"Hah," he responded, "only if you limited yourself to taijutsu."

"That is true, but I _am_ the best," she said with a smirk reminiscent of her old cocky grin with just a little bit of self mockery in it. "I still say that you're overspecialized, Gai. Your taijutsu, while excellent, could use some more variety."

"I know what my body can do, Sensei. While I can use other styles well enough, against an opponent like you I do much better if I stick to the Strong Fist."

"Your father said much the same thing, when I started offering him advice after I finally started beating him."

"My father knew taijutsu like few others, even if he was most proficient in the Strong Fist."

"That he did. Regardless, we'll have to do this again sometime."

"Of course," boomed Gai, "and if I cannot last two hours against you, Sensei, I will. . ." At that point, Kushina tuned him out. She walked over to talk to Naruto.

"That was awesome, Mom!" the boy shouted. "Can you teach me?"

"Of course, Son," she said, smiling. "No son of mine is going to be lousy in taijutsu. I'll make sure you learn taijutsu and the sealing arts, if it's the last thing you do."

"Um, Mom. I don't think that phrase goes like that."

* * *

Gai had elected to accompany them after receiving confirmation from the Councilors via Kushina's Shadow Clone still in Konoha.

They had set out with Jiraiya guiding them. Kushina had decided to let him guide them, as he was more familiar with Tsunade's more recent habits. Kushina knew she could brute force finding her with Shadow Clones, Hiraishin markers, and her chakra-sensing abilities, but decided to spend more time with her son before things got crazy again.

Jiraiya spoke up before they got very far. "Naruto, how would you like me to teach you a technique of your father's?"

Kushina thought that he was offering in order to get on her good side and maybe make up for not being in his godson's life up till that point.

"That would be awesome!" the boy responded. "What is it?"

Jiraiya held up a hand and a glowing, swirling ball appeared in it. "This is the Rasengan, an A-rank technique that was his second-most famous signature move." He slammed it into a tree on the side of the road, causing chunks to fly out of it.

"Awesome!" the boy exclaimed.

Kushina explained, "Your father developed the technique after watching me do a Tailed Beast Bomb using the Kyuubi's chakra, which is a signature move that most jinchuuriki can do once they master their Tailed Beat's power."

"So I could do this Tailed Beast Ball, too?" Naruto asked.

"Eventually," she said, "Minato used a more restrictive seal on you than I had, because it's safer, especially for an infant. Tailed Beast Balls require a lot of power. They are meant to destroy armies or villages. The Rasengan is much more suited to one-on-one combat. A low-powered Rasengan can also be used to incapacitate. Unless you're involved in a war, the Rasengan is much more useful to you."

"Oh." He seemed a little subdued at the thought of war. "Can you do it?"

She held out her hand and formed a Rasengan.

"Yours is smaller than Ero-sennin's. Why is that?" he asked

"My chakra is naturally denser than most peoples," she explained. "My Rasengan has the same power as the Old Perv's, it's just more condensed. There are advantages and disadvantages to having denser chakra. It makes some low-powered techniques more difficult, but it makes externally manifesting your chakra for things like the Rasengan or _my_ signature move easier."

She let the Rasengan fade and then shot a pair of chakra chains out of her hand. "These are my Adamantine Sealing Chains. I can use these chains to attack, make unbreakable barriers, or even suppress my opponent's chakra."

"Wow," her son responded. "Could I do that?"

"Probably," she answered. "From what I can sense of your chakra, it should be dense enough. Whether any chains you formed had the same properties as mine, we'd have to see. My chakra is unusual even by Uzumaki standards. But, why don't you start with the Rasengan?"

Jiraiya tossed the blond boy a water balloon, which he bobbled but managed to catch without it breaking. Jiraiya held up another water balloon. "This is the first step. You need to burst the water balloon by swirling your chakra inside it, like this." The water balloon burst.

Naruto set to work. After an hour of practice, he had managed to get the water inside it rotating, but the balloon just stretched out, flattening, without bursting.

"It's just stretching. It's not doing what Ero-sennin's did at all," he complained.

"Try swirling it in multiple directions at once," Kushina offered.

"Wouldn't it be better if he figured it out on his own?" Jiraiya asked.

"Maybe if he were a more advanced student," the redhead said. "But from what I could tell from talking to him last night, nobody has really taught him at all. Most of what he can do, he taught himself."

"Minato made me learn it without hints," he pouted.

Kushina laughed. "Stop being so lazy, Old Perv. Stop trying to slack on teaching your godson. You were a world-renowned ninja at the time, not a relatively fresh genin. Plus, I think Minato just wanted to get back at you for your less than satisfactory explanations while you were teaching him. How many times did you leave him to figure something out so that you could go peep?"

"He did that to Dad, too?" Naruto asked.

Kushina nodded and winked at her son. "Your father was a great ninja despite his teacher."

Naruto laughed while the Toad Sage spluttered.

The boy got back to work. By the end of the day, he was finally beginning to be able to maintain more than one axis of rotation at once.

* * *

The pattern continued. Naruto kept practicing the Rasengan according to Jiraiya's instructions with occasional hints from Kushina. By the end of the second day, Naruto had finished the first step. The next step involved popping a rubber ball by doing the same manipulation, but adding more power. The fact that it contained air inside it instead of water and that the skin was much thicker made it more difficult.

At each town Kushina quickly determined that Tsunade wasn't there using here chakra sensing. Jiraiya insisted that he needed to check with his contacts to see if they knew where she was. Kushina reluctantly agreed, although she suspected that the Toad Sage was using that as an excuse to carouse.

Kushina sparred with Gai in the mornings before they set off. These spars were restricted to taijutsu. By agreement, these spars only lasted an hour. Kushina found herself rapidly improving as she worked out the kinks from her inactivity during her pregnancy. Gai won once in the first week.

She also sparred with Jiraiya a couple of times in that first week. These spars were agreed to be "anything goes." To Naruto's delight, his mom won both matches. Her style was taijutsu-heavy, but she also used her chains and a smattering of Wind and Water Techniques and some raw Wind manipulation. Jiraiya fought mainly with an eclectic mix of ninjutsu.

"She's just toying with him," said Gai near the end of the first match.

Naruto looked at him incredulously.

"While both of them are holding back to not damage our campground too much, Sensei is handily controlling the tempo of the fight. Your mother is the most Youthful fighter I know. If she used her chains more aggressively, or if she used seals, she could end it much more quickly. Kushina-sensei loves to fight, so she fights just above the level of her opponent, so that both their Flames of Youth may burn brighter and brighter."

"Was she better than Dad?" the boy asked.

"Yes, although the Fourth was also very Youthful, Kushina-sensei beat him in two thirds of their spars."

"Why was Dad made the Hokage then?"

Gai turned to him and said, "There is more to being the Hokage than exceptional fighting skill. Diplomacy, negotiation, and compromise are skills that a Hokage also needs. I don't know the exact reason Minato was chosen instead, but it might have something to do with Sensei's temper."

By this time Kushina and Jiraiya were done. Kushina chuckled as she joined the conversation. "Gai is right. At the time that the Third was choosing the next Hokage I was still very angry with Kumo due to the kidnapping attempt. If I had been given the reins, I may have attempted to raze it to the ground, even though we had just finished a long and painful war. Your father was a better Hokage than I would have been. Being married and then giving birth has mellowed me considerably, for the most part."

Jiraiya made a series of coughing noises that sounded like "mama bear" which earned him a glare from the redhead.

At the end of the week, two things happened: Jiraiya heard news of Tsunade's location and Naruto popped the rubber ball. They traveled toward Tanzaku-gai while Naruto tried to keep a balloon filled with air from popping while forming a Rasengan inside it.


	9. Chapter 8: Tsunade

**Author's Note:** (2015-12-06) A reviewer pointed out that Tsunade's reaction to Kushina's appearance was flat. I agree and so I've updated that part. Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I've updated Chapter 6 (Naruto) to add a small bit to Kushina's initial examination of Sasuke that I had forgotten to include.

* * *

When they reached Tanzuka-gai three days later, Kushina immediately zeroed in on Tsunade's chakra signature. "She's this way," she said.

The redhead led the group to a bar. Jiraiya entered first followed by Kushina and Naruto. Gai stayed with the unconscious Sasuke just out of town.

Tsunade was drinking at a table with a young woman who Kushina recognized as Kato Dan's niece Shizune. Tsunade was still using her age-regressing illusion.

The older woman spotted Jiraiya first. "What are you doing here, Pervert?"

"Looking for you, of course, Tsu-chan," said Kushina.

"Ran-chan!?" said Tusnade. "They told me you were dead!"

The blonde woman ran to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"I almost was. I got pulled back to my birthplace and the Old Ghoul patched me up. I just got back."

"I've missed you so much!" Tsunade said sniffling just a little. "I thought you were gone like Dan and Nawaki." She composed herself and released the redhead. "You don't look hardly any different than the last time I saw you."

"Time passed differently for me there. It's been less than a month since Naruto was born for me. I'm glad to see you too, but it's been less than a year for me since I've seen you last. That's been pretty typical since Dan died."

"Hey, Mom," said Naruto. "Why'd she call you Ran-chan?"

"I used to go by Ranma sometimes."

"This is your son, Ran-chan?" asked Tsunade with a grin. "And you haven't told him about your adventures as Saotome Ranma?"

Kushina chuckled nervously. "I just haven't gotten to it yet. I brought my Mom and a few of the others, back with me, so it'll come out."

"Really? Your mom? Is she over her obsession?"

"Not completely, but she's accepted me as I am."

Tsunade looked over at Naruto and said, "Never sign anything your grandma gives you."

Naruto just looked confused.

"I'll explain later, Son," said Kushina.

"So who else came?" asked Tsunade.

"Ukyo, who I adopted as my sister, plus Shampoo and Konatsu, who agreed to be Uzumaki clan retainers."

Tsunade tapped her lips. "That's the chef and the Amazon, right? I don't remember who Konatsu is."

"That's right. As for Konatsu, I might not have mentioned much. We met not too long before I ended up in Konoha. Konatsu mainly came because of Ukyo."

"Do you think it will work out with them?" Tsunade asked.

"It should be okay. Ukyo plans to open up a restaurant. I may have to remind Shampoo that Amazon law doesn't apply in Konoha, but she seems resigned to our new relationship. Konatsu is. . . quirky, but not any more than Gai. I look forward to certain reactions." She rolled her eyes toward the Toad Sage who was paying more attention to Tsunade's impressive bust than to the conversation.

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow and Kushina grinned. Tsunade grinned back.

"Hey lady," said Naruto to Tsunade, "my Mom says you can heal my teammate."

Tsunade looked questioning at Kushina.

"My godson had a really bad reaction to a genjutsu, given him by his brother of all people. He's been comatose for over a week."

"Mikoto's youngest?"

Kushina nodded.

"I never did see what you saw in the Uchiha," said Tsunade.

"Fugaku was an ass," said Kushina, "but a decent enough teammate in a fight. Mikoto was a gem, though. I just wish she hadn't been stuck in such a traditionalist clan. She was worth three of her husband."

"You hear what happened to them?" asked Tsunade.

"Only that Itachi killed them all. I just can't see it. He was such a sweet boy."

"I don't really know any more about it than that, either," said the older woman. "Well, for you Ran-chan, I can take a look at him."

"Yatta!" yelled Naruto.

"He's a chip off the old block, isn't he?" smirked Tsunade. "Looks like you, too—just with Minato's coloring."

Kushina rolled her eyes. "I wasn't that bad. I would have been pretty well behaved if school hadn't been so boring."

"So even Ninja Academy pales compared to Furinkan?"

"No exploding pineapples, no chakra-draining teachers, no insane kendoists, no heat-seeking bicycles, and, most of all, no fiancée drama." Kushina ticked the list off her fingers.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Well, it's not, but it did make any other school boring in comparison."

"You can blame your short attention span on your mother, kid," Tsunade said to Naruto.

"Alas, it's true," Kushina said, overacting her shame at the words by putting her wrist to her forehead. She got serious and said, "I have Gai watching him just outside of town. Do you have a hotel room we can do it in? I can send a clone to fetch them."

"Yeah," said Tsunade. "This way." She lead them out of the bar and to a nice hotel.

As they walked Jiraiya tried to start a conversation with Tsunade about why they had come.

"It can wait," said Kushina. "None of us are going anywhere and we should do it when we can have a good discussion."

Tsunade looked at them suspiciously.

The silence was filled with Naruto chattering about how excited he was to have a mom and to meet his other relatives.

"You know, Tsu-chan is a relative too," Kushina said. "We're distant cousins, but her grandma raised both of us, so we're more like sisters—although she's much older than me." She stuck out her tongue at the older woman.

Tsunade made a fist and mock threatened her. "I'm only twelve years older, brat, right?"

Kushina stopped walking and pondered. "Well let's see. If Naruto's 13, that means I'm legally 37, based on the birth date that's on all my documents. I'm biologically 24, but subjectively, I'm also 37—weird."

"What do you mean subjectively?" asked Naruto.

"Well, I came to Konoha when I was 17, but my body had been regressed to that of a 4-year old and then after you were born time passed differently in my homeland, so I've actually lived 37 years."

"How'd that happen?" her son asked.

"Magic mushrooms," she responded.

"Huh?" he said.

"Weird stuff happens to me. It's the story of my life. I would say it's my Pop's fault, but it kept happening after I left him."

"It's true," said Tsunade.

"So, if you're 49, why do you look the same age as my Mom?" Naruto asked Tsunade.

"Mind your own business, kid," said Tsunade.

Naruto looked at her suspiciously. "Maybe I should call you Granny rather than Auntie."

Kushina intervened before Tsunade decided to get physical. "Now, Son. It's considered rude to pester a woman about her age. You should always assume any woman over 16 is 21, no matter what her real age is."

Naruto frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Part of being a man is appreciating women while acknowledging that they don't make sense," said Jiraiya.

By then they had arrived at the hotel. A short while later, Gai arrived with the still-unconscious Sasuke.

Kushina said, "Before you revive him, Tsu-chan, I need to remove a seal that your old buddy Orochimaru gave him. It's seriously bad news, but there's a chemical part to it that I'd like you to take care of while I remove it."

Tsunade grimaced at the name. "Did you recognize the compound?"

"There are at least two. One is a pretty standard narcotic, the other is a protein that either stimulates sage chakra production or carries it somehow."

"Really?" asked Jiraiya.

"Yes, but it's really twisted due to the Snake's chakra or the piece of his soul in the seal."

Everyone grimaced at that.

Kushina had Gai, Naruto, and Shizune wait outside.

"Okay, Tsu-chan, I'll need you to keep him stable. The seal has integrated into his chakra network. I'll also need you to remove the narcotic and the other substance from him if any leaks out during the removal. Jiraiya, I'll need you to do the same with any of the Snake's chakra and his soul shard. Do you know the appropriate seal to do that?"

He nodded. "I'll prepare it now, just in case."

He did so and Kushina nodded at his work.

"Ready?" she asked.

The other two nodded.

Kushina dismissed the stasis seal she had placed around the Curse Seal and added chakra to activate it. She started removing the pieces of the seal. After the first part of the array was removed the remainder tried to cascade in failure, but she kept it under control.

"It looks like I'm going to have to empty the storage seals to remove them," she said. "Get ready. You first, Tsu-chan. Here come the chemicals."

Tsunade used a medical technique to remove the compounds as soon as they entered Sasuke's body.

"Okay, here's the chakra with the piece of soul attached."

Jiraiya touched a metal wire to the boys neck that was connected to the seal he had just made. The evil-feeling chakra attempted to escape, but was drawn into the seal.

Kushina got back to work and dismantled the loyalty, pain, and self-destruct seals. Finally it was all done.

"Done," said Kushina. "Can you take care of the brain trauma from the genjutsu, too, Tsu-chan? I'd recommend keeping him asleep until we can deal with him in the morning."

"Yeah," the blonde woman responded. "And I agree with keeping him asleep. I'm not in the mood to deal with an Uchiha right now."

Kushina let the others know that they were successful, but that they were letting him sleep. She went and requested two more rooms and they all turned in for the night.

* * *

The next morning, Tsunade prepared to wake up Sasuke while Kushina and Naruto watched. Shizune and Gai were elsewhere as to not make the room too crowded. Jiraiya had not returned from his activities the previous night.

Sasuke opened his eyes and sat up. "He did it to me again, didn't he?" he demanded.

"All we know is that your brother put you in a very intense genjutsu," said Tsunade.

"Tsukiyomi," he whispered.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Kushina.

"He made me live the massacre over and over again," he said quietly. He came to himself and glared at the women. "Who are you? I only know the Dead Last."

Kushina frowned at the description of her son, but before she could say anything, her son said excitedly, "This is my Mom and her cousin!"

Sasuke frowned. "How do you know?"

"Ero-sennin and Bushiest-brows Sensei said!"

"Ero-sennin?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Jirayia of the Sannin." Naruto answered. "He writes those books Kakashi-sensei is always reading."

"So where's she been all this time?" the Uchiha asked.

Kushina answered, "I was severely injured in the Kyuubi Attack. An old associate who had been looking for me summoned me back to my homeland just as I was about to die, by chance. She saved my life and I've just now been able to make it back." She pointed to Tsunade. "This is my cousin, Senju Tsunade. She healed the brain trauma from your brother's genjutsu."

"Thanks," muttered Sasuke.

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the Uchiha's expressiveness.

Kushina decided to pop his emotional detachment. "I actually knew you when you were a baby. I even changed your diapers a few times. Your mom said it would be good preparation for Naruto here."

"Mom!" Naruto yelled. "Don't embarrass me!"

"I actually never did get to change yours," she said with a frown.

Naruto turned bright red while Tsunade chuckled.

"You knew my Mom?" asked Sasuke, shocked.

"She was my best friend. She actually named me your godmother."

Sasuke just stared at her before asking, "Just who are you? I thought Naruto was a clanless nobody."

Kushina frowned. "Has everyone really forgotten the Uzumaki? It hasn't been that long since the Fall of Uzushio and I saw that Konoha jounin still wear a version of our clan symbol." Her frown deepened. "And I wouldn't discount someone just because they don't come from a famous clan. My husband was a first-generation ninja and was one of the three most famous ninja Konoha has produced, behind possibly only the founders, Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara."

Sasuke looked shocked.

Kushina continued, "My name is Namikaze Kushina. I'm called the Red-Hot Habenero and the Crimson Death. Naruto has been going by my maiden name to protect him."

Sasuke frowned at Naruto. "Your dad was the Fourth Hokage?"

"Pretty cool, huh? I just found out a few days ago."

Sasuke smirked. "How'd you end up the Dead Last? Talent skip a generation?"

Naruto sighed. "My Dad placed a big burden on me the day I was born and most of the village has hated or feared me for it. No one would ever help me other than Old-Man Hokage, but he was always too busy."

"What burden?"

Naruto frowned and looked at his mom.

"He'd probably find out sooner or later. Plus he is your teammate."

"Did you tell yours?"

She laughed. "They both had doujutsus. It would have been too hard to hide it from them."

Naruto sighed again and said, "He sealed the Kyuubi into me. Mom was the previous prison for it, but someone freed it right after she gave birth and set it on the village."

"So that's what you used against Gaara and the Ichibi, right?" the dark-haired boy asked.

Naruto nodded. "You don't hate me for it?"

Sasuke grunted. "You're still the Dead Last, even with the Kyuubi in your gut."

Naruto smiled faintly, "Thanks, I think. Jerk."

Sasuke looked at Kushina, "You said you had doujutsu holders on your team? Was one of them an Uchiha?"

"Yep. Your father. He introduced me to your mother. He was kind of a cold fish, but pretty dependable."

Sasuke scowled at the description of his father.

Kushina laughed. "Yeah, he used to look at me like that until I beat the emo out of him. It took several applications."

Sasuke's scowl deepened.

Kushina laughed again. "Don't take it too badly. The only one that could beat me regularly was my husband and I still won most of our matches."

She patted him on the knee. "Don't worry, Little Godson. I'll help you get better. If I know Kakashi, he's been slacking on teaching you guys. He never did get over the death of his teammates and, from talking to Gai, I know he hasn't gotten any better in the time I've been gone. Oh, and I got rid of Orochimaru's poisoned gift for you. That was a nasty piece of work."

Sasuke started. "How? Kakashi said it couldn't be removed."

She snorted. "Kakashi isn't bad at seals for a non-Uzumaki, but he's no master at them."

Sasuke's face showed mixed feelings.

"There are better ways to get stronger than depending on Orochimaru's slave collar, Godson. You should rest. Being in a coma is surprisingly taxing."

She walked out of the room with Naruto and Tsunade following her.


	10. Chapter 9: Orochimaru

**Author's Note:** I made a small addition to the previous chapter.

* * *

Gai had decided to head back to Konoha now that Sasuke was conscious so that he could check on his genin team and "stoke their Flames of Youth." Kushina told him that they would join him in a few days when Sasuke was well enough to travel.

Jiraiya tried to corner Tsunade again, but Kushina deflected him and insisted that he watch Sasuke while she spent some quality time with her son and sister figures. Jiraiya was still pretty easy for a woman to manipulate. Shizune wanted to take a look at the abandoned castle that was on the edge of town, so they headed there.

"Shizune," Kushina said, "why don't you take Naruto and go explore. I need to have a serious talk with Tsu-chan."

Shizune chirped agreeably. Naruto grabbed her hand and dragged her off to another part of the castle.

Kushina sat down on a bench and patted the spot beside her. Tsunade sat down and said, "Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to enjoy this? I've noticed that you've been shielding me from Jiraiya."

Kushina snorted. "Jiraiya would totally bungle this conversation. And you're right, I do have bad news." She took a breath and said, "Orochimaru invaded Konoha recently. I don't know the details, as I wasn't in Konoha long before heading out to find Naruto who was looking for you with Jiraiya, but I do know he managed to kill your Sensei."

Tsunade bowed her head. "The Old Monkey and I haven't been close for a while, but I'm still sad to see him go." She looked up. "The Old Goats on the Council want me to be the next Hokage, don't they."

Kushina nodded. "You are one of the top two candidates."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Who's the other sucker?"

Kushina laughed. "Me, of course."

Tsunade snorted. "You can have it. You were always going on about being Hokage when you were little. Besides, Konoha has taken enough from me already. Hokage is a guaranteed death sentence."

"I mainly did that to try and annoy Minato," she said wistfully. "It never worked as he would always say something like 'I'm sure it will be the best person for the job.' The only time I ever saw the man really lose it was when I told him I was pregnant. It was annoying at first, as I had always used insults and teasing to get an edge in a fight, but eventually I learned to love his steady disposition. We balanced and complemented each other. Regardless, say something enough and it sticks. I _would_ like to be Hokage. I also think it would be a nice tribute to him to fulfill his dream."

"Whatever," her surrogate older sister said. "You're welcome to it."

Kushina put her hand on Tsunade's shoulder. "Even if it's me that takes the Hat, Tsu-chan. I want you to come back to Konoha."

Tsunade started to get angry. "How can you say that, Ran-chan? Konoha has. . ."

Kushina interrupted, "Tsunade. You've been running and hiding long enough. It's been about two decades since Dan died—even longer for Nawaki. You're never going to get better doing what you're doing. I hate seeing you do this to yourself. Do you really think Dan and Nawaki would want you to live your life like this? And what about Shizune?"

"Those are some low blows, Ran-chan," Tsunade said quietly.

"I know," Kushina said equally quietly. "I just want you to be happier. Shizune respects you too much to say, but I can tell she worries about you. Jiraiya too, beneath his perverted mask." She put her hand back on the blonde's shoulder. "Listen, if they choose me to be Hokage, I'll implement that combat medic nin program you wanted Hiruzen to approve. I always thought his refusal was short sighted. While it was true that pulling people away from the front to train as medics during a war would have been difficult, implementing it for Academy students and genin would have been very feasible. Combat medics would have extended the lives of our ninjas with very little loss in combat performance. I would also like you to examine the existing medic program."

"Can I think about it?" the blonde asked.

"I told Jiraiya we'd be here for a few days for Sasuke to recover. I could use Hiraishin to take us back instantly, but I didn't want to spring this on you and then insist you return immediately."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "You're all heart, Ran-chan."

Kushina smirked. "Ah, you know you missed me, Tsu-chan."

Her danger sense went off as she felt two chakra signatures coming toward them at high speed. One was Orochimaru and the other had a high-jounin chakra level. "Orochimaru!" she said. She grabbed Tsunade's arm and flashed to Naruto's location. She had marked him the first evening.

"Mom?!" Naruto exclaimed while Shizune said, "Lady Tsunade."

"I sense Orochimaru coming toward us rapidly," Kushina explained

"The snake freak?" Naruto said.

"Let's go out into the courtyard," she said.

They ran out into the courtyard. It didn't take long for Orochimaru and his silver-haired, glasses-wearing companion to appear.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku," laughed the snake summoner. "I didn't expect you to have guests, Tsunade."

"I didn't expect you to show your face after what you did," Tsunade responded.

"News spreads quickly," Orochimaru said with a laugh.

"Kabuto?" said Naruto. "What are you doing with him? Are you a traitor?"

"You can't betray what you were never loyal to," the silver-haired teen said. "I was one of Lord Orochimaru's Sound nin from the start." He pointed to the badge with a sound note on his forehead.

"I want to make a deal, Tsunade," said Orochimaru. "You fix my arms that got injured in my little spat with Sensei, and I'll bring back your lover and your brother."

"How do you intend to do that?" asked Kushina.

"Ah, Little Kushina—no one seems to be staying dead. I'll make you a deal. You tell me how you came back and I'll say how I'll bring back Dan and Nawaki."

"Sure," Kushina said. "I was never dead—just indisposed for a few years."

"How disappointing," Orochimaru said. "Well since you didn't have a good answer, I won't be telling you."

"They say he brought the First and Second back from the dead to fight the Old Man," Naruto said.

"They fought for him?" said Kushina. "That sounds like the Impure World Resurrection Technique. That's a fool's bargain, Tsu-chan."

Tsunade nodded.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku. We'll see if you keep to your principles when we have dear, sweet Shizune as leverage," said Orochimaru.

"You seem to be under the misimpression that you'll be surviving this encounter, Roachy," said Kushina. She formed two Shadow Clones. Adamantine Sealing Chains shot out of one of them surrounding the courtyard in a barrier like the one she had used to keep people away from the Kyuubi as they sealed it into Naruto. The other clone created a smaller barrier around it and the first clone with its chains. The barrier was a little bit weak where the chains from the first clone intersected the smaller barrier, but it should do against anything Orochimaru could do in a short amount of time.

"How cute," said the snake summoner. "Little Kushina thinks she can play in the big leagues. How long has it been since you've been in a real fight, Little Kushina?"

Kushina snorted. "I've seen pandas that were better trash talkers than you, Roachy." She started to laugh. "Did you know that your Sensei placed me above you in the choice as to who would be the Fourth Hokage? I hear you barely beat out _Danzou_ , of all people."

"Ku, ku, ku. That may be, but I got the last laugh for his lack of vision." Orochimaru smirked. "Sensei is dead by my hand. Your darling Minato, is also dead by my hand and by my hand your adorable son was made an orphan. Who do you think leaked your location to the masked Uchiha?"

On the one hand, Kushina had been afraid that the location she was giving birth at had been leaked by Mikoto and was glad that it hadn't been. On the other hand, this freak had leaked the location. Her killing intent filled the air. She felt her hair begin to writhe as it split into nine segments.

"Roachy is mine," she said. A chill settled over the courtyard as she utilized the Soul of Ice to get her emotions under control.

She charged the snake summoner. He leaped out of the way.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked plaintively.

She smiled. "It's from a secret code, I learned when I was younger. It means 'cockroach.' I thought it was fitting that I tell you your place before I smash you under my heal." English was reduced to an obscure secret code here in the Elemental Nations. Ukyo knew at least a little, but the only others that might were her Mom and Shampoo.

"Let's see you say that when I'm done with you!" he snarled. A snake came out of his throat and regurgitated a sword which Kushina recognized as the Kusanagi no Tsurugi. The snake withdrew back into its master's throat and he caught the sword with his tongue which extended.

Kushina drew two kunai and she sent Wind chakra into them, extending their effective length as whitish pseudo-blades grew from them.

Their blades clashed. Kushina's Wind chakra kept the Kusanagi's cutting properties from touching her kunai. Orochimaru's sword skills were low-jounin level at best since he was a ninjutsu specialist. Kushina easily handled him. She amputated his arms. "I decided to help you out, since you weren't using those."

In the other fight, Tsunade was out of commission due to her fear of blood. Shizune was having a hard time with Kabuto. Naruto was trying to help, but the spy was much better than he was. She was about to intervene when Naruto succeeded in making a Rasengan by using both hands and a Shadow Clone to stabilize the technique. He caught Kabuto by surprise and slammed it into him. Kushina was impressed with his inventiveness, but made plans to make sure he could use the technique one-handed. Using a Shadow Clone negated one of the primary advantages of the technique, speed of formation.

She amputated Orochimaru's legs. He fell to the ground and his head began to bulge as a new whole body came out the old one's mouth.

"You are a disgusting thing, Roachy," she said. "I wonder how many times you can do that? Let's find out."

She saw that Kabuto had recovered from the Rasengan and had kicked Naruto away. He was about to finish off Shizune, when Tsunade recovered in time to save her surrogate daughter. She knocked him away with a bone-shattering punch.

"Kabuto!" Orochimaru shouted.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru," the spy responded as he ran to his master.

"Summon Manda."

The silver-haired teen cut Orochimaru and then wiped the blood on his master's summoning tattoo and channeled chakra into it. With a large burst of smoke a giant snake appeared. Kushina wrapped it in her Adamantine Sealing Chains.

"What's this Orochimaru?" the snake said. "How dare you bind me! Release me! And where are my sacrifices?"

"Dispose of them," Orochimaru commanded, "especially the redhead, and I'll get you your sacrifices."

Kushina laughed. "I held the Kyuubi in my chains when I was mostly dead. This overgrown wallet won't be escaping."

"Stop playing with them, Ran-chan," Tsunade growled. "Don't bother capturing them. They're both too tricky to hold without constant vigilance around the clock."

"Very well." She sent out more chains. The two Sound nin managed to dodge until Kushina formed more Shadow Clones and blanketed the area with chains. When she caught them, she marked them with chakra-suppressing and paralyzing seals. Then she used an incinerating seal to make sure there was no trace of left of them.

"Any recommendation on what to do with the Boss Snake, Tsu-chan?" she asked.

"He demands 100 human sacrifices whenever he's summoned. I say we kill him."

The snake started issuing threats, but they ignored him. Kushina repeated the process and Manda died.


	11. Chapter 10: Family

Jiraiya was shocked when he heard of Orochimaru's death. He was also shocked when Tsunade agreed to return to Konoha. When she would not agree to be the next Hokage, he kept bugging her about it. Kushina and Tsunade decided to keep the fact that the Councilors offered Kushina a chance to be the next Hokage a secret for now.

That evening, Kushina pulled Naruto aside and took him on a walk. When they were alone she said, "There are some embarrassing things about me that you will probably pick up from being around my Mom, Ukyo, and Shampoo. I'd rather you heard them from me." She paused. "You know how Gai has a fixation with Youthfulness?"

Naruto nodded warily.

"My mother has a fixation with manliness. It's nowhere as bad, but I thought you should know. Be polite to her, but don't agree to anything you don't want to do. I'd also be careful about making promises to her, as she takes honor and promises very seriously. If she bugs you too much about anything, let me know, okay?"

Naruto nodded. "I can see how that would be a little bit embarrassing for me, but why would it be for you?"

She sighed. "There's no easy way to tell you this, so I'll just do it. Try and keep an open mind and let me tell you the whole thing. Promise me?"

"I promise, Mom."

"My birth name is Saotome Ranma. I took the name Uzumaki Kushina when I came to Konoha to honor my mother's mother who came from this world and because Grandma Mito thought I would fit in better."

"Ranma is an odd name for a girl," her son said.

"I was born a boy."

"What?!"

"When I was almost about five, my Pop took me on a training trip to become the best marital artist of my generation. The martial arts are what we would call taijutsu. He put me through all sorts of dangerous training techniques. If there was a rumor of a powerful technique or training method, he would chase it down and try to subject me to it. The worst was when he tied me up and threw me into a pit of starving cats while covered in fish products over and over again so that I could learn something called the Cat Fist. That left me with a lasting fear of cats which could put me in a berserk state. That caused me no end of trouble until a Yamanaka helped me overcome it.

"When I was almost 16 he took me to a place called Jusenkyo which was a 'Legendary Training Ground.' At Jusenkyo there are dozens, if not hundreds, of pools where you get cursed to turn into the thing that last drowned there. I fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl. Hot water would deactivate the curse and cold water would bring it back."

"Really? A curse?" said her son. "Can you demonstrate it?"

"It's permanently activated right now. At first I hated the curse and tried to ignore it. After I came to Konoha, Grandma Mito encouraged me to make my girl side my main public face because it was more visibly Uzumaki due to the red hair and the fact that I was less likely to become a boy spontaneously because hot water is rarer."

"Red hair?" asked the boy.

"Uzumaki were famous for their bright red hair, which most of the clan had. For some reason my female form has it, but my male form has black hair. I don't know why. Anyway, for the first five years I was in Konoha, I was a girl a more than half the time because I went to the Academy as one. When I was biologically nine, Grandma Mito revealed to Tsunade and me her burden as the container of the Kyuubi. She had us choose which of us would do take over for her, while telling me that if I did it, I would never be a boy again because changing forms would weaken the seal. I was a much better choice than Tsunade, or anyone else, due to my special chakra that enables me to make my Adamantine Sealing Chains. Tsunade was the second choice because only a Senju or Uzumaki has strong enough chakra to contain the Kyuubi well."

"Is that why Dad chose me?" asked Naruto.

"Yes, it's one of the reasons, but like I told you before, the main one was that we knew we could trust you to handle it and use it wisely."

He hugged her. "Thanks, Mom."

"I took the responsibility because if I didn't Tsunade would have and there was a good chance she would die and I would have to do it anyway. I haven't been a boy at all for the last 15 years. I still felt mostly like a boy for the most part, at first. I used to frequently use the Disguise Technique to appear like a boy, but after a while I grew out of that."

Naruto looked a little nervous. She made a mental note to find out about that.

"It took me about seven years after that to fall in love with your father." She looked at her son hopefully, as if waiting for his judgment.

"Ah, Mom don't worry about it. Compared to Gai, Ero-sennin, or Kakashi-sensei, you're almost normal."

She looked very grateful and gave him a hug. "There's just a couple of things left to explain. My Pop was a good sensei, but, for the most part, a lousy father. He did two things that you might here about from Mom and the others I brought back with me. He signed a pact with Mom that he would make me a 'Man among Men' or we'd commit seppuku before he took me on a ten-year training trip."

"What? That's crazy! And with you the way you are? What happened?" asked Naruto.

"Mom is very honor bound. She would have regrettably enforced the contract. There were hijinks involved with me hiding from her. When she finally found out, she came up with a reason I was still 'manly' because she didn't want to do it. When I came back after the Kyuubi attack, I told her I wasn't going to be a man again and refused to commit seppuku because of my obligations to you, which I think are greater than any my Pop made for me."

"Hey! Since you don't have the Kyuubi any more, you can become a man again, if you want. I won't complain."

She gave him another hug. "That's very sweet of you, Son. I've been a woman for so long, though, that being a man again would feel weird to me. Mom decided that living up to my responsibilities as a mother was honorable, so I invited her to come with me."

"What about your Dad. Why didn't he come?" he asked.

"I love my Pop, but he's a thief, a liar, and someone who believes that only results matter. If he came, he'd likely make promises in my name that I couldn't or wouldn't be able to honor. But mostly, I didn't bring him because I'm afraid he'd try to steal you away in order to turn you into the world's greatest taijutsu expert like he did to me. His training is effective, but horrible. I wouldn't want you to be put through what I was. Plus, I already missed your childhood, I don't want to miss any more. I did leave a seal behind that will allow you to write letters to him, so you can get to know him."

"Cool," said Naruto.

"The last thing is that Pop engaged me to multiple women."

"What? Why?" asked the blond.

"Mostly to feed his stomach."

"Really?" he asked incredulously.

She nodded. "Ukyo, the sister I adopted was one of them. Shampoo, one of our new retainers was another fiancée, although Pop didn't engage me to her directly. She was only partly his fault. I was engaged to her due to one of her people's crazy laws."

"Auntie Tsunade was right," he said. "Weird stuff happens to you."

* * *

The following day, Tsunade announced that Sasuke was ready to travel. It took four days to travel from Tanzuka-gai to Konoha. When they arrived, they went to the Hokage's office and debriefed to the Councillors. Kushina agreed to meet with them the next day. Tsunade reluctantly agreed to do so as well.

"Godson," Kushina said to Sasuke as he was about to head to his home, "I expect I'll be really busy for the next little while, but I really want to talk to you soon, okay? I'll make time for you."

Sasuke nodded and left.

At the Senju compound, they were quickly mobbed.

"Milady, why you leave without loyal retainer?" said Shampoo.

"Daughter, I thought you would be gone for a few hours, not two weeks," said her mother.

"Ran-chan, where were you?" said Ukyo. Ukyo was the first to notice Naruto. "Hey, is this your son? He looks like a blond version of you. He's cute."

"Ukyo. . ." Kushina growled.

The chef laughed. "Just teasing you, Ran-chan." She ruffled Naruto's hair. "I'm your Aunt Ukyo, Sugar."

Naruto was suddenly enveloped in a hug. "What a manly little man!" exclaimed Kushina's mother. "I'm your grandma!"

Naruto chuckled nervously. "Hi, Grandma!"

Kushina intervened. "I think he needs to breathe, Mom."

Nodoka reluctantly let him go.

"Let me introduce everyone," Kushina said. She pulled Naruto in front of her, hands on his shoulders. "This is my son, Namikaze Naruto. He's only a beginning ninja, but he already has some interesting stories. I think he's inherited my knack for trouble."

Naruto waved and several people muttered, "Poor boy."

She gestured to Tsunade. "This my cousin and surrogate big sister, Senju Tsunade. Tsu-chan is one of the Elemental Nations' most powerful kunoichi and the premiere combat medic."

Tsunade bowed. Konatsu had stars in his eyes.

Kushina gestured to Shizune. "This is Kato Shizune, Tsunade's apprentice and almost niece. She's a powerful kunoichi and combat medic in her own right."

Shizune also bowed.

Kushina gestured to Jiraiya. "This is Jiraiya the Toad Sage. He was my husband's sensei and is Naruto's godfather. He's also a powerful ninja, but watch out, ladies. He's a huge pervert, even if he's not at Happosai's level."

Jiraiya puffed himself up. "I don't know this Happosai, but I'm not a pervert. I'm a _super_ pervert."

Shampoo and Ukyo unlimbered their weapons.

Kushina shook her head. "If you were like Happosai, Old Perv, I'd kill you." She looked at the others. "He only peeps, but he's very good at it and very persistent. He also writes trashy novels."

"I'll have you know that my novels are world famous!" Jiraiya said indignantly.

"Not panty thief or groper?" Shampoo asked.

When Kushina nodded, Shampoo and Ukyo relaxed.

Jiraiya looked offended at being dismissed.

Kushina gestured to her mother with a smile. "This is my mother, Uzumaki Nodoka, a noble and honorable lady."

"Thank you, Daughter," Nodoka said with a bow.

Kushina gestured to Ukyo. "This is my adopted sister, Uzumaki Ukyo. She is the best okonomiyaki chef in two worlds. She is also an excellent fighter. She uses a unique style based on her cooking implements."

"What are okonomiyaki?" asked Naruto.

"You've never had okonomiyaki, Sugar?" Ukyo asked, scandalized. "We can't have that!" She whipped out her grill and started cooking.

"I ought to introduce you to Maruboshi Kosuke," said Jiraiya. "He does something similar as a fighting style."

"Is he cute?" asked Ukyo.

"If you like 60 year olds," said Jiraiya with a laugh.

Kushina also laughed as Ukyo pouted. The redhead gestured to Shampoo. "This is Shampoo. She was raised in tribe of warrior women and is an excellent warrior. She is an Uzumaki clan retainer."

Shampoo bowed. "It an honor to meet you."

Kushina gestured to Konatsu. "This is the other new Uzumaki clan retainer, Kenzan Konatsu, one of the premiere kunoichi from my old world, although they don't use chakra the same way we do."

"How about I teach you about chakra, Miss Konatsu," said Jiraiya with a leer.

"I would like that, Master Jiraiya," said Konatsu shyly.

Kushina put a hand on Tsunade's shoulder as she was about to say something and shook her head with a smirk and mouthed, "I'll tell you later."

"I've prepared a nice meal," said Nodoka, "since my Daughter's clone told us you would be here today."

They went into the main house and found dinner ready. They ate and talked for a long time. Kushina was glad that everyone was there, but she was dearly missing one person who would make it even better.

* * *

Kushina heard a door open, which woke her from her fitful sleep.

"Ranma? Kushina?" she heard her mother say.

"What's wrong, Mom?" she replied as she sat up in her lonely bed.

"I heard you crying, Dear," her mother replied. "What's wrong with _you_?"

"Just getting used to being a widow, Mom," she said sadly. "I've been burying it while I was searching for Naruto and then Tsunade, but being back here with everyone, just brought it all back. I miss him so much. Everyone was being so happy, and I kept wanting to turn to him and explain to him what Ukyo or Shampoo were talking about or laugh with him about something that Naruto was doing. We shared this room for a year before we moved out to have our own place."

"It's alright to miss him, Daughter." She sat down beside her on the bed and pulled her daughter into her shoulder and started massaging her scalp. "If you cry, I won't judge you. I certainly cried for you and your father after you left on your training trip."

"Do you miss him now?" asked Kushina, sniffling. "Did I do the wrong thing by splitting up you two?"

"No," said Nodoka with regret, "not really. Too many years have separated us and he made no move to get back together once you got back to Nerima. There's too much resentment for turning a year-long trip into a decade-long one on my part and too much shame for doing it on his part, I think. Sometimes I regret how things turned out with him, but that's it."

"I promised myself I would never let something like that happen to me and yet it did," Kushina began to cry again. "Poor Naruto."

"Here now," said Nodoka, "that wasn't your fault."

"It doesn't matter," she said. "I still feel horrible."

"I know, Daughter," her mother said, sniffling a little herself. "I know. On the surface, I know your father tricked me and lied to me, but it doesn't make me feel much better about not being there for you."

Kushina pulled away. "Look at us, a couple of middle-aged women crying about lost years."

"You're not middle-aged, Daughter."

Kushina smirked. "I may not look it thanks to the magic mushrooms, but I'm 37. I have a 13-year-old son. I'm middle aged."

"Goodness," said her mother, shocked. "I'm 36."

Kushina started to laugh. "I have the most messed up life on two worlds—not only was I born a boy, but now I'm older than my mother."

Nodoka started to laugh too. "You certainly have led an interesting life, Daughter."

"Thanks, Mom," Kushina said, smiling. "I'll be alright now. Thanks for talking to me."

"It was my pleasure. Talk to me any time you want."

"Thanks, Mom. I will."


	12. Chapter 11: Hokage

The next morning Kushina and Tsunade met the Councilors at the Hokage's office.

Koharu said, "The two of you are our top Hokage candidates."

Tsunade snorted, "Kushina can have it."

"Are you willing, Kushina?" Homura asked.

"Yes," she said.

Both Councillors nodded. Koharu said, "Very well. Since both of you have been out of the village for a long time, you will need to have a full medical examination. Your apprentice will also need one, Tsunade."

Both women sighed. "Let's get this over with," said Kushina.

* * *

Two hours later, they were again meeting with the Councilors. This time Shizune was with them.

Koharu said, "The physician says that you're all healthy. No traces of drugs in your system, other than too much alcohol, in the case of Tsunade." She frowned.

Tsunade simply shrugged.

Koharu said, "Now we just need to do a seal sign off." She leafed through a folder. "Shizune, we'll start with you. You don't have any seals applied to you listed in your personnel file and the physician didn't find any on you. Is that accurate?"

"Yes."

"Very well. It looks like you're ready to be reactivated, but I'll leave your assignment to the new Hokage."

"The older lady started leafing through a different folder. "Tsunade, it looks like you just have the one seal on your forehead according to the physician and your file. I see that it has the challenge-response mechanism built into it. May I activate it?"

Tsunade nodded and approached the Councillor. Koharu put her left hand on Tsunade's forehead and made a half ram seal with her right. The diamond shape on Tsunade's forehead flashed green three times and then red twice.

"It checks out," Koharu said looking at the file. "Are there any other seals on you that you're aware of?"

"Nope."

"Very well. You're fit to return to active duty, too. The new Hokage will give you your next assignment."

Tsunade nodded and stepped back.

"Kushina, according to your file you have five seals on you, but the physician found seven."

"Oh, I added two more specialized storage seals" she replied. "They should be the same as the other two storage seals in my file."

"Only one of the seals in your file has the challenge-response protocol—your jinchuurichi seal. Why is that still present?" the Councilor asked.

"Oh, I still have a relatively small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra in me. Kind of like the Gold and Silver Brothers from Kumo, I think."

"How much?" asked Homura.

"About the same as my own chakra. Less than a tail for the Kyuubi. I met the Nibi's jinchuuriki once. I think I may have as much as one of the Nibi's tails."

"All together?" asked the male Councillor.

"No, just of the Kyuubi's chakra. With mine and his together, I probably have as much as the Nibi."

The room was unnaturally silent.

"Oh, come on," she snapped. "I'm an Uzumaki, Kage-level shinobi and I was jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi for 15 years. I'm going to way have more chakra than is reasonable."

"How much does your son have?" asked Koharu.

"About a quarter of mine for his own, plus half the Kyuubi's, of course. He's still developing though. I imagine he'll top out somewhere around mine. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less."

"Half?" Homura asked.

"Minato sealed the yin half of the Kyuubi into himself." She continued quietly, "It's currently with him in the Shinigami's stomach. Naruto only has the yang half."

The group silently bowed their heads in honor of the fallen Hokage.

"Can I do the challenge-response protocol on your seal that has it?" Koharu asked.

Kushina shrugged and lifted up her shirt to expose her abdomen.

Koharu repeated the process. This time there were four red flashes followed by two green and then three blue.

Koharu nodded, looking at the file. "I'll need you to remove the other six seals. You can remove them, right?"

"What!?" exclaimed Kushina. "There are copies of them in my file, right? Can't you just inspect them?"

Koharu frowned. "That's okay for normal examinations, but you've been gone a long time from our prospective and you're our lead Hokage candidate. We can't afford to be lenient here. It's not going to be a problem is it?"

"No," Kushina grumbled. "It's just that I have a lot of stuff in those storage seals."

Tsunade broke into laughter.

"Laugh it up, Tsu-chan," she said sweetly. "Just remember: I don't get mad, I get even."

Tsunade stopped laughing, but could not wipe the grin off her face. "Why didn't you add the challenge-response protocol to them? I know Grandma told you about it."

"Didn't think it was important," she mumbled.

"Are you serious?" asked Homura.

"I was eight when I started designing seals. How many eight-year-olds pay attention to boring stuff like that?"

"I see that after you were rescued from Kumo, the Third waived removing the only seal you had at the time without it," said Koharu. "Most irregular."

Kushina thought that he must not have wanted to risk a shape change. She vaguely remembered him talking about challenge-response, but she had been too distraught to pay much attention then. If she had had to she guessed she could have been locked in a room with no hot water anywhere near while she removed it in front of witnesses and then reapplied it quickly. She realized there was no risk to removing it now other than potential embarrassment.

"It was a secret clan seal that Kumo had no way of knowing anything about. If they had tampered with it, it would have messed with its function."

"What was its function?" asked Homura

"Clan secret," she responded firmly.

"I suppose you have that privilege," said Homura, "but we're going to insist you take them all off—other than the seal we just checked."

"Do you remember, Mitarashi Anko?" asked Koharu.

"Orochimaru's apprentice?" Kushina responded.

"Yes. A very talented kunoichi. Unfortunately, Orochimaru marked her with a seal that we strongly suspect has a mind control element. It makes her unreliable through no fault of her own. She has been able to suppress the seal, so the Third gave her responsibilities that a ninja in her situation would usually be given. Even so, we would have liked to have given her more, but simply could not chance it. If her seal were removed, she would be a shoe in for advancement. That seal that she has is layered with much of the function hidden from inspection. As a seal mistress you should know that a visual inspection of the seal isn't enough."

"Yes, I do. It's just inconvenient." She tapped her lips. "I removed a seal like that from my godson, Sasuke, with some help from Jiraiya and Tsunade. I'll speak to Anko about it."

Koharu and Homura both smiled at her. "That's good to hear," Homura said. "We've been fretting about that."

Kushina sighed. "Very well. I'd like some privacy then. One of them is pretty close to a private area and all of them are clan seals."

"Tsunade can check you when you're done," said Koharu.

Kushina and Tsunade walked over to the locker room at the Academy which was housed in the same complex. Luckily, it was a Sunday and the Academy was empty.

"For laughing at me, you can wait out here by yourself," Kushina told Tsunade.

Tsunade pouted and Kushina laughed.

She entered the locker room and started emptying her storage seals. It took her a good 15 minutes to do so. She removed the storage seal and here chakra control enhancement seal. She hesitated before removing the seal that locked her 'curse' before removing it. She stood there for a good minute before her curiosity got to her and she walked over to a sink and ran the hot water. She loosened her clothes and then stuck her hand in the water.

She felt the half-remember tingle and felt her clothes constricting her shoulders. She looked in the mirror. Her male form was handsome! It was odd to see herself with black hair again, especially without the trademark pigtail. She grinned and then smirked in the way that used to drive Ryouga nuts.

Minato had used his Kazama Arashi persona to do missions incognito. Maybe Saotome Ranma could make a comeback for that purpose? Grandma Mito and she had come up with a water-repelling seal, but it was impractical for the long term due to hygiene, rain, and water walking. It also did not work against high-power Water Release techniques. As long as she stayed away from Mizu no Kuni, it would probably work.

She looked in the mirror. She would probably end up telling Tsunade that she occasionally became Ranma again, but definitely not her mom or former fiancées. They would expect too much of her if she did. She walked around the room for a minute and noticed she had to concentrate to keep from walking with a feminine gait. It was odd to think that her birth form was the one that felt odd to her now. She sighed and walked back to the sink and stuck her hand in the cold water. She felt the tingle and then fixed her clothes and stuck her head out the door.

"Ready, Tsunade."

"Done checking out Ranma's body, now?" said Tsunade with a smirk.

Kushina spluttered in denial.

"I know you, Ran-chan," said her surrogate big sister. "Without the seal on you, your curiosity wouldn't let you not do it."

"Okay, I admit it," she said. "It was weird. In a way it was almost as weird as when I first changed into a girl all those years ago."

"You going to do it again?" asked the blond.

"Occasionally," the redhead admitted. "Not often though. It felt pretty weird. Maybe I'll take a few missions as Ranma. Please keep it to yourself. I don't want to think about what Mom, Ukyo, or Shampoo would do if they knew I changed sometimes."

"Sure, Ran-chan."

Tsunade did her inspection. Kushina replaced her seals and re-sealed all the items into her storage seals. She had thoughts already on how to change her Jusenkyo-locking seal to have an activation switch built into it so she didn't have to remove it.

They returned to the Hokage's office.

"She was fine," said Tsunade. "No problems."

"Good," said Homura. "We've talked with both Gai and Jiraiya about the spars you had with them and they've both vouched for your combat abilities. We would like you to talk to a panel including us and three jounin this afternoon about what your plans for the village would be, but that will be the last hurdle before your appointment becomes official. The Daimyo has already said he would approve either you or Tsunade."

The jounin on the panel were Nara Shikaku, Hyuuga Hiashi, and Aburame Shibi. The questions were not hard for her. She had done this before when they were selecting the Fourth Hokage and she also knew what worked for Minato when he was Hokage. She went home satisfied that evening.

* * *

Two days later, Kushina stood with the clan heads, Koharu, Tsunade, and Jiraiya on a raised platform at the base of the Hokage monument. Homura stood in front of them, ready to address the crowd, which consisted of most of the ninja in the village and a good number of civilians.

She saw Naruto standing with her mother, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Konatsu. She wished he was with her for this, but Koharu and Homura had convinced her not to draw attention to their relationship for safety's sake. She was not convinced it would help much and she was _not_ going to push him away or deny him, but she would forgo a public announcement.

"Ninja and citizens of Konoha, it has been almost a month since the tragic loss of our beloved Third Hokage due to treachery. Uatatane Koharu and I as Councillors to the Hokage have met with the jounin of our village to select a new Hokage. We have submitted a name to the Daimyo and he has approved it.

"Our new Fifth Hokage is one of the heroes of the Third Ninja World War and one of the most fearsome fighters that Konohagakure no Sato has ever produced! Only our founders and her husband, Namikaze Minato, were more feared! Long thought dead due to the Kyuubi Attack, but recently returned to us, I give you the Red Hot Habanero, the Crimson Death, the Fifth Hokage, Namikaze Kushina!"

Homura stepped back and she stepped forward. The crowd began to cheer, starting with her family, Gai, Kizashi, and others that she recognized from the war. It spread until the whole crowd was roaring. The clan heads, Councilors, and Sannin were clapping behind her. Her heart began to speed up. She remembered when Minato had been in this spot. She shoved the nostalgia, and loneliness it invoked, down.

She held out her arms and Koharu and Homura draped her in the ceremonial Hokage robes. The Hokage's hat was sitting on a raised platform in front of her. She picked it up and held it over her head.

As she placed the hat on her head, she directed chakra to her voice so that her audience heard her. "I swear that I will protect, guide, and serve Konohagakure no Sato to the best of my abilities. I will uphold the Will of Fire so that it shines as a beacon throughout the Elemental Nations. I am the Fifth Hokage!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** This is where I've always planned to end this story, but I have some brief ideas on what comes after, so I'll be posting some vignettes (some funny moments and snapshots of how some of the loose ends are tied up) to finish off the story. The vignettes will be posted as one or two chapters.


	13. Epilogue

"You want me to banish one of my most talented genin, why?" Kushina growled. She tamped down on her anger. If she ever found out who had leaked her son's condition, that person would wish they could flee to the deepest hell.

"Err, the Lord Third passed a law. . ." one of the group of merchants mumbled.

"Fine!" she said, "I will give you a pardon for breaking the Third's Law, for this meeting only."

Another of the merchants said, "If the boy were banished we wouldn't have to fear the demon anymore."

She pushed down the impulse to send them all to Ibiki. Why did she have to deal with this on her first day on the job? "I know you're speaking from ignorance—otherwise you would not utter such treasonous words."

"Treason, Lady Hokage? Surely not. It would only benefit. . ." the second merchant tried to explain.

"When the destruction of Konoha would result from it—how could it not be treason?"

"Well, maybe we should kill. . ." the first merchant started but then shrank in on himself as she glared at him.

"Do you really have so little faith in my husband's work that you would kill or banish an innocent boy?"

"It's not that we don't trust the Lord Fourth's work," said a third merchant, "but isn't it better to be safe than sorry? And don't the needs of the village outweigh one boy?"

She stood up and leaned over her desk. "I'm only going to say this to one group of you—so pass it to the others in your faction: attempts to kill or drive away Uzumaki Naruto will be punished as treason by execution."

She sat down. "Since I'm feeling generous, I'll even explain why—although I really shouldn't have to. The Kyuubi was set against Konoha by a man. As far as we know, that man is still alive. My husband wasn't able to kill him. If we banished Naruto, that man would rip the Kyuubi from him and would likely send it against Konoha again. If you killed Naruto, the Kyuubi would either be released, or more likely, would dissipate for nine years before reforming in that exact same place that Naruto died!"

She had had Shadow Clones tear through Grandma Mito and the First's notes on the Tailed Beasts when she had arrived back in Konoha. She was now thankful that she had not tried to kill the Kyuubi by tying it to her as she died. This was something she should have studied a long time ago, but in her pride she had not seen the need. With her son being the one it was sealed in, however, she took a much greater interest.

"You should be grateful that Naruto is such a kind-hearted young man. Most people, when treated with the kind of social isolation he has been, would turn out more like that Gaara kid from Suna that I've heard rampaged during the Chuunin Exams. You'll find that I'm a lot less lenient about this kind of nonsense than the Third was. Get out of my sight!"

* * *

"Lady Hokage, if you were a man, I would totally have your babies!" proclaimed Mitarashi Anko as she crushed Kushina in a hug, relieved to have her curse seal gone.

Kushina blanched.

Tsunade started laughing so hard she nearly fell over.

Jiraiya just looked confused at why Tsunade had lost control so badly.

* * *

Kushina stood in front of the Memorial Stone. Many of Konoha's ninjas were also present.

"It is with great sadness, that I strike a name from our Memorial Stone. I once thought of Uchiha Obito as a little brother. I don't know how he survived the Kannabi Bridge mission or why he betrayed us, but he was without a doubt responsible for the Kyuubi Attack 13 years ago—including the death of his sensei, Namikaze Minato, and many others. For this betrayal, Uchiha Obito is stricken from the Memorial and entered into our Bingo Book as an S-Class missing nin."

* * *

Kushina approached Kakashi, who was standing in front of the Memorial Stone.

"How could he do it?" Kakashi said. Kushina could tell he was barely holding on. "He was the most loyal person I've ever met. If you weren't the one saying it, I would never believe it. I don't think anyone could fool your chakra senses into thinking they were someone else."

"I don't know Kakashi," she replied soberly. "I suspect someone tortured him into madness. If he weren't captured, he would have returned not long after the mission." She had hated him intensely when she first awoke in Nerima, but she had had time to think since then and now her hate had lessened some.

"If he isn't in his right mind, why did you do this?" he asked, pointing to the Memorial.

"Well, if he's not dead, he can't be on the Memorial, can he?" she responded "I also needed to put him in the Bingo Book—crazy or not."

"Do you think he can be saved?" he asked hopefully.

"I really don't know," she answered honestly.

"The people are never going to forgive him," he said sadly.

"I know," she said. "Things can never go back to the way they were—that's the nature of life. We can only move forward."

* * *

"Kushina, you said Konatsu was a kunoichi!" yelled Jiraiya.

"He is," Kushina said calmly.

"A kunoichi is a woman! By definition!" he returned.

"Not when you're as talented at it as Konatsu is," she replied. "He was trained in the female ninja arts from a young age by his step family."

"You set me up!"

"Of course I did," she returned. "And if you weren't such a perv, you never would have fallen for it."

* * *

"No, Jiraiya," said Kushina. "You can ask Naruto to be your apprentice, but I won't allow him to go on a three-year training trip."

"It's the perfect time for it," protested Jiraiya. "My sources say that Akatsuki will be quiet for the next three years while they wait for the Sanbi to reform."

"I just barely got my son back," she said. "No long missions for him. Besides, there's a lot that I need to teach him, too."

"I can't stay in Konoha. You need my spy network running at its peak performance."

"You mean there are too many hot springs you need to visit," she said snidely. "Look, from what I remember, you prefer to teach with a light hand anyway. Leave some things for him and give him a few lessons before you go. Come back every few months to check on him. I know most of the skills you would be teaching him to start with. If he has questions, I can answer them for him."

* * *

Susuke stormed off the training field.

"Why do you keep baiting him, Mom?" Naruto asked.

"His father was my teammate. I have experience beating the emo out of an Uchiha. You have to demolish their pride before you can make any headway."

"What if you drive him away before you manage it?" her son asked worriedly.

"Where would he go?" she responded. "Who else can help him get his revenge? Orochimaru is dead. He knows that Itachi had help and the evidence points to it being Obito. He'll put up with it."

* * *

Kushina dodged an Earth Spear. She was currently in her male form and wearing a Fox ANBU mask. She had assigned herself an A-Rank mission taking out an Iwa missing nin as a test case for her alternate identity, which wasn't going to be Saotome Ranma—too many in Konoha remembered that name. She was having a tougher time than she should because she could not use her chains, high-level combat seals, her husband's distinctive techniques, or her own distinctive taijutsu attacks. Her Water techniques were also out due to the curse. Why was she doing this again? Ah, yes. The challenge. She grinned and pulled out a chakra-conductive kunai and charged it with Wind chakra. With a laugh she dived for the missing nin.

* * *

"Lady Hokage," the Boar ANBU said, "someone approached the gate seeking asylum. She says she has information on Oto."

"Very well. I'll see her. Send for Anko as well."

About fifteen minutes later, Anko walked in. Five minutes after that, a red-haired young woman of 13 or 14 was escorted in by two ANBU. She extended her chakra senses. The girl's chakra was denser than normal and had some of the same characteristics that Mito, Tsunade, and Naruto's chakra had. A cousin perhaps?

"I understand that you wish to claim asylum in exchange for some information on Oto?" Kushina asked.

"I do," said the girl.

Kushina could sense the girl extending her chakra. The girl gasped.

"I am the Fifth Hokage, Namikaze Kushina," she said, "but my maiden name is Uzumaki. What's your name, cousin?"

"I'm Uzumaki Karin," she said quietly.

"Why did you chose to come here, Karin," she asked.

"Well, I was here for the Chuunin Exams, representing Kusa. My mother and I took refuge there when I was very young. She died seven years ago, after being worked to death healing their ninja. I had no desire to suffer the same fate, so I never returned after the exam since my team didn't survive. I decided to come back here, after leaving Oto, because I was saved in the second exam in the Forest of Death by one of your genin. Since I had nowhere else to go, I decided to come here."

"Who was the genin?" Kushina asked.

"I never got his name, but he was very skilled. He had dark hair and eyes and a smile to die for." Karin sighed.

Kushina thought that could have been her godson until the bit about the smile. She smiled at the girl who was probably a cousin. "This is Mitarashi Anko, she will ask you some questions, and then we can decide on whether to grant you asylum."

* * *

"Well?" Kushina asked Anko.

"She didn't know a lot about Oto. According to her, she's only been there a few months. Orochimaru must have brought her there right before he tangled with you. According to her, things are pretty lawless there and Oto is hemorrhaging ninja left and right. A guy named Kaguya Kimimaro held things together until he died from some type of illness. Evidently Orochimaru had singled her out to lead some experiments, but she never got involved because he disappeared."

"What do you think of her?" she asked.

"From her description of her abilities, she's a support ninja. She can heal by having someone bite her, she's an accomplished sensor, and she can do your chains. We'd need to test her to find out more. As for her as a person, she didn't get too enmeshed with Orochimaru and she has a weak grudge against Kusa due to her mother's death. Her moral compass isn't real strong and she's somewhat flighty, but I don't see anything too wrong with her. Medical has passed her."

* * *

"Okay, Karin," Kushina said, smiling. "I've decided to grant your petition. You'll have a six-month probation, before you're integrated into our forces if you want to remain a ninja. Since you're family, you can stay with me and my family at the Senju compound. Just be aware that there are always ANBU there due to my position."

* * *

Kushina was running in her male form. She heard Anko yelling behind her. She had been returning from a mission and had heard a familiar perverted giggling coming from the hot springs. She had forgotten that she was currently male and the resulting mix up had made her a target as well as Jiraiya. Using Hiraishin would raise questions she would rather not answer, so she kept running.

* * *

Kushina saw an alert on her desk. Two high-level foreign chakra signatures had passed through Konoha's upgraded sensor net. She took note of the area and signaled two ANBU to approach her. She used the Hiraishin to get to the general area with the ANBU. She recognized the chakra signature of one of them—Uchiha Itachi. The other was very strong—almost her level and had a companion chakra source linked to it. She filled her companions in on the threat.

They followed them at a distance. She could tell they were heading to the Senju compound. They stopped across the street from the gate.

"Stay here and provide support if I need it," she told the ANBU quietly. She recognized the other as Hoshigaki Kisame, an S-Rank missing nin from Kiri, from the Bingo Book.

She closed her eyes. She was very familiar with fighting Uchiha, having fought many times with Fugaku and more recently her godson, who was getting quite good. Itachi's chakra signature was muted, but not enough to escape her senses. His companion's was like a bonfire. She could "see" their outlines and some of their chakra clung to the ground near them as well as their clothes and tools. Her chakra senses were not as good as the Byakugan or even her own eyes, but good enough for her to fight.

"Oh, Itachi-chan," she said too sweetly. "I've been meaning to have a chat with you for some time. You've been very naughty. Don't think I won't pull you over my knee and give your bottom the tanning of your life! I did it when you were three and I'll do it again." She let her chakra flair and felt her hair start to writhe. "Auntie Kushina looks upon matricide very poorly, Itachi-chan."

Itachi fled. She allowed a smirk to reach her lips. Some reactions were too instinctive to overcome casually.

"What?! Itachi?!" Kisame exclaimed. Too shocked to do anything, but gape after his companion, Kisame was totally unprepared when she flashed behind him and slammed a kunai into his spine, just above the shoulders. She had Hiraishin markers surrounding the compound. An idea came to mind that could potentially allow her to make the village into a huge Hiraishin seal.

She had pushed down her pride and practiced the Hiraishin until she could do it as well as Minato. When she was 16, in either life, she would have played with her foe before finishing him off. She had too many responsibilities now to goof around. She yanked out the kunai and used a minor Fire technique to cauterize the wound.

"Take him to Ibiki," she said.

"What about Itachi?" asked the Hawk ANBU.

"Someone else called dibs. Let him go."

* * *

Tsunade walked into Kushina's office wearing a smirk.

"I've heard about an interesting betting pool," the older woman said.

"Oh?"

"A bunch of kunoichi have a pool regarding ANBU Fox's identity," Tsunade said. "It seems the consensus is that he's quite the hunk."

Kushina sighed. "It's a burden that he's had to live with all his life."

"Admit it," Tsunade said. "Sometimes you change just so you can stare into those deep blue eyes."

"I admit nothing!"

"How do you keep getting into these messes as a male?" Tsunade asked.

"It happens when I'm female too," Kushina responded. "I just abuse my position and reputation to get out of it."

* * *

"Sabaku no Gaara, the Fifth Kazekage, has been kidnapped," Kushina said. "Kakashi, I want you to take your team to Suna and render aid. I'll be sending Gai's team as backup."

Kakashi looked at Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. They each nodded at him.

"We'll leave within 30 minutes," he said.

* * *

"We didn't get there in time, Mom," Naruto told her soberly. "Old Lady Chiyo sacrificed herself to bring him back."

"At least we avenged him," said Sasuke. "Sasori and Deidara won't be bothering anyone, any longer."

"Did we really avenge him if he's not dead any longer?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"Of course we did, Dead Last," Sasuke said. "You don't need to be dead to require vengeance."

* * *

Sasuke stood with Naruto, Sakura, and Karin. They were about to leave on the mission that Sasuke had been training for almost his whole life.

"Summon me with the marker when you're ready to face off with him," Kushina commanded her godson.

"I thought you said I was ready," Sasuke growled.

"You are," she responded. "I just have questions for him. Something about that whole business stinks to the highest heaven. Don't worry, I'll let you fight him."

* * *

"You don't have to die, Itachi," Kushina said. "I can get you to Tsunade in an instant."

"Let me find peace, Aunt Kushina, Sasuke," Itachi murmured. "I don't deserve to live, nor do I want to."

Uchiha Itachi took his last breath. Itachi had ignored her questions until Sasuke and he were both on the verge of collapse. He had told them of Danzou's forgery of the command to wipe out the Uchiha and the old man's possession of Shishui's eye. He had told them of "Madara's"—it had to be Obito—help in wiping out his clan. She was not sure how deep Homura and Koharu's involvement in this was, but Danzou had overstepped himself.

* * *

Kushina killed Danzou for the fourth time. He was a crafty old war hawk. He had almost gotten her a couple of times. She killed him for the fifth time. It looked like he had five more Sharingan eyes left in his prosthetic plus the one in his head.

* * *

Yamanaka Inoichi said, "They have definite signs of tampering in their minds. It's not anything damaging, just compulsions to go along with Danzou at specific times in the past. They could probably continue to function in their roles without Danzou here, but I wouldn't risk it."

Kushina was okay with that. She had been looking for an excuse to retire Homura and Koharu without looking like an ingrate. She figured that Tsunade and Shikaku would make good replacements.

"What about the Root members that survived?"

"Most of them will require extensive rehabilitation just to function in society, but there are several that should eventually make it into the ninja forces."

* * *

"I wanted him, Godmother!" Sasuke yelled at Kushina.

"I let you go after Itachi because that was mostly clan business," she replied. "Danzou was infringing on the Hokage's Office, so he was my responsibility."

"How do I get my vengeance now?" he yelled.

"Vengeance won't bring them back, Sasuke."

"Don't tell me that! I know you want Obito's head on a plate!"

"I did," she said seriously, "and I admit that I would take it if given the chance, but now I want answers more. And more than that, I want my family to be safe. If they're safe by someone else's hand, then I will be content."

Sasuke's face was still twisted into a snarl.

"Do you need more _lessons_ , Godson?" Kushina asked too sweetly.

"Ah, no. I'm good."

* * *

Kushina comforted her bawling son. They were both standing off to the side as Sakura and Tsunade worked on Hinata.

"She took the blade for me, Mom," he said. "That insane priest was going to cut me, but she pushed me out of the way. She told me she loved me as he was cutting himself and the wounds were appearing on her due to his forbidden technique."

He quieted down. "I lost it, Mom. I went to eight tails and tore him to pieces. The Fox was getting loose, but Dad came to my seal—or at least something like a Shadow Clone of him did. He fixed the seal and told me I was doing great. He also told me that one of your clones was in the seal too."

"I'm glad you got to meet him, Naruto," she said hugging him closer.

"She'll be okay, Naruto," said Tsunade. "It'll take a few weeks, but she'll make a full recovery."

"Thanks, Auntie," he said. "It's too bad that freak with the masks got away."

* * *

"I have to go," Jiraiya said. "As far as I can tell, only Naruto and the Hachibi's jinchuuriki are left. All signs are pointing to Ame and my old students. The rumors say that Akatsuki's leader has the Rinnegan."

"Take it," Kushina held out a Hiraishin kunai to Jiraiya. "I don't want you dying over this. Yes, we need information on Ame, but we need you more."

"Ah, I didn't know you cared, Kushina."

"Of course, I care," she said. "So does Naruto and even Tsunade—although she'll never admit it."

"Okay," he said, taking the kunai. "Don't expect me to use it unless, I'm on death's door."

* * *

"Hold on, Old Perv," Kushina murmured.

Jiraiya was not looking good. He was missing an arm and on the verge of chakra exhaustion.

She could sense six identical chakra signatures closing on them.

She flashed straight to the Konoha Hospital.

* * *

The perimeter alarm notified Kushina of six strong unidentified ninja crossing the detection wards. She was glad that Naruto was with the Toads learning Sage Mode. She flashed to the area that they were approaching. The chakra signature matched the person from Ame. From what Jiraiya had said they were all his student Nagato—only he called himself Pain—but that none of the six he'd seen had been the real Nagato. Jiraiya said that what one of the bodies saw, they all saw. The chakra was familiar, in the same way that Karin's was when they first met. She could feel tendrils of chakra heading away from the bodies out of the city. The chakra was densest where small rods pierced the bodies.

She was grateful that her experiments with making the entire village into a Hiraishin tag had worked. According to the list of abilities that Jiraiya had compiled, at least one of the bodies would be problematic if she had to throw kunais and another might be able to negate her chains. All she needed to do was wait for them to enter the village proper. She had to get them all at once, since one of them could revive the others.

The six jumped the wall. She flashed between the six, decapitating them all within a second.

* * *

"Why would my cousin come to kill my son?" Kushina asked Nagato's crippled form. Konan stood beside him. "Does family mean nothing to you?"

"It is regrettable," he said, "but his sacrifice will bring peace."

"Ah, Jiraiya's dream," she said. "My husband and my son both studied under him, so I know it well. I would think fulfilling Jiraiya's dream would not require his death. Did your sensei mean so little to you?"

"That too is regrettable," he said, "but as a god, I am above human ties."

Kushina snorted. "I killed a god when I was 16, to save my son and my people I will do it again."

"So peace means nothing to you?" he asked.

"Tell me how collecting the Tailed Beasts will bring peace."

He told her how the small nations suffer because of the big and how his parents and his best friend had died for the great nations' peace. He spoke of the plan to build a weapon so terrible that the pain of its use would scare everyone into peace.

She snorted. "It's only know to a few, but I was actually born on another world, because my grandmother found her way from her to there. Using her notes, I came here by accident. In that world, they actually have a weapon as terrible as what you describe, but it didn't bring peace, not really. What it brought was détente and cold war. The small nations were used in proxy wars and actually suffered more as they became surrogates for the great nations' politics. But even that only happened because all the great nations had the terrible weapon. With only one, you will only have tyranny and terror. My home world has also seen that on scales larger than the Elemental Nations. Your plan will never work."

"What alternative do you offer, then?" he asked.

"Rather than suffering bringing everyone together, why not love and understanding?"

"How can that happen in the current world?" he asked dismissively.

"I'm not saying it will be easy," she said. "If it were, someone would have already done it. Do you know that Jiraiya wrote a book about you?"

"I know what types of books Jiraiya-sensei writes," he said, disgusted.

"No, this was his first book— _Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja_ —no smut in it at all. It was my husband's favorite book. I liked it too. We named our son, Naruto, after the main character. Jiraiya never was good at coming up with names. I'll send you a copy."

She looked at him, "You will be going home, won't you, Cousin?"

He sighed. "Yes, I suppose I will. You won't have anything to worry from me or mine anymore, but I don't think that will matter to some of Akatsuki."

She handed a Hiraishin kunai to Konan. "Channel chakra into this if you need to contact me."

* * *

"He killed him!" Konan sobbed. She had summoned Kushina and then collapsed into her arms. "Madara killed him and took his eyes."

"Obito," Kushina said.

"What?"

"The man you know as Tobi or Madara is really Uchiha Obito—one of my husband's students that went missing about 20 years ago after a mission gone bad. He orchestrated the Kyuubi attack in Konoha 17 years ago and much of what has gone wrong in the world since."

* * *

Kushina was awoken by one of her alarm seals. This specific one she had developed with Kakashi's help to detect the use of a certain intangibility and phasing technique. She felt a familiar and hated chakra signature. 'Obito,' she thought. He was in Naruto's room. She created a Shadow Clone and then flashed there. She felt the Shadow Clone activate a certain seal on the house. She smiled and closed her eyes.

"Hello, Obito," she said in a too sweet manner as she palmed a chakra-conductive kunai. "I'd invite you for tea, but I'm afraid that you wore out your welcome the last time I saw you."

Naruto started up from his sleep. She gestured him to get out of bed. He sprang out and fumbled for his kunai pouch.

"How could you?!" she yelled. "Minato treated you like a son! And you spit in his face and betrayed him!"

"He betrayed me first!" Obito yelled. "Where was he when I needed him? Where was he when Kakashi killed Rin? With the Tailed Beasts I can create a world where everything is perfect—where Rin is alive. . ."

"Do you think Rin will want to be with you after all you've done?" she said. "She sacrificed herself to save Konoha and all you've done is to try and destroy her sacrifice."

"No!" he yelled. "She'll have to like me. I won't let her not like me! With the Infinite Tsukuyomi she'll have to like me!"

"You want to cast a genjutsu on the whole world?" she asked incredulously. "You think that will fix everything? You're insane."

"Enough talk!" he snarled. He tried to do a technique, but nothing happened. In that moment of surprise, Kushina channeled Wind Chakra into her kunai and stabbed the extended Wind blade through his heart.

"Surprised?" she taunted. "You should know better than to try the same trick twice with me. No intangibility for you!"

* * *

Kushina stood next to her mom and Ukyo. In front of her, Naruto was kneeling next to Hinata. Hiashi, Hanabi, and Neji stood behind Hinata. The two young people were sharing the ceremonial wedding sake.

As the wedding ceremony ended, Nodoka whispered to Kushina, "I wish I could have been at yours."

"I know, Mom," she said. "And I wish Minato could be at this one."

* * *

Kushina stood next to the hospital bed where Hinata was holding her grandson, Boruto. Naruto took him from his wife and handed him to her. "Hey, Mom," he said. "Meet your grandson."

Kushina's eyes leaked a little. "Hello, Little Bolt. Welcome to the world."

* * *

Kushina was once again in the hospital. This time Hinata had given birth to a girl, Himawari. The mother and baby were resting. Boruto was with his great grandma. She and Naruto were talking quietly.

"You know, Son," she said. "I've been thinking of retiring. You know anyone interested in my job?"

* * *

Kushina sat in the renovated Uzumaki Mask Temple staring at the Shinigami Mask. The only reason she hadn't used it to release Minato and the other Hokage's souls was that she did not know what would happen with the yin half of the Kyuubi. Amazingly, Naruto had managed to make peace with the yang half of the Kyuubi in him, but that did not mean that the yin half would honor that.

* * *

At 90, biologically, Kushina was ready to be done. She had seen her great-great-grandchildren born. Her health while still good for her age, was deteriorating. Tsunade, her mother, Ukyo, Shampoo, Konatsu, and even Shizune had all been dead for several years. She thought she missed Tsu-chan the most, other than Minato. She stood next to Naruto inside the Mask Temple.

Naruto had long retired as Hokage, also. Konohamaru had followed him and in turn been replaced by Boruto. Boruto had retired and been replaced by a woman she did not know and whose name she could not remember.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mom?" Naruto asked, sadly. "We could have it done on a criminal."

"Peace, Son. I want to be the one who frees him," she said. "I know it's silly, but I want it to be me. I've lived a good long life. I miss him and Tsu-chan and the rest. I'm ready."

"Okay. Boruto is ready to seal the yin Kyuubi into Minato, if necessary—using a different seal than mine, of course."

She smiled at her great-great-grandson's name. She placed the mask on her face and picked up a tanto. She slit her belly. She could feel the souls leaving through the wound in her stomach. She thought she could feel Minato's soul linger for a moment.

Blackness claimed her.

* * *

 **Author's Note** : (added) This is the end. Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. There were some complaints when Orochimaru died too easily and I'm sure there will be more for the epilogue, but I don't think the Naruto villains would be much of a challenge for a mature Ranma/Kushina fusion's skillset. I'm also not much into long drawn out fights, so I didn't want to draw them out.


End file.
